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TROUTI^^G 


BRULE   RIYER, 


SUMMER-WAYFARING 


NORTHERN  WILDERNESS. 


BY 

JOHN  LYLE  KING. 


"  That  innocent  revelry  in  the  luxuriance  of  summer  life  which 
only  Au^^lers  enjoy  to  the  utmost."— Hi" i.wer  Lytton. 


NEW  YORK: 

ORANGE    JUDD    COMPANY. 

1880. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S80, 

By  John  Lyle  Kino, 

In  the  office  of  the  Librarian,  at  Wasningtcm. 


Stereotyped,  Printed  and  Bound 

BY 

The  Chicago  Legal  News  Company. 


PEEFATOEY  A^D  PEESOIN^AL. 


TiTE  exhaustion  that  comes  of  the  inordinate  and 
exacting  frets  and  activities  of  business,  the  languor 
and  inertia  of  summer  fervors,  the  ennui  and  sati- 
ety that  follow  the  dissipations  of  social  life,  may 
find  in  the  great  wilderness  retreats  a  grateful  re- 
prieve and  a  speedy  reparation.  When  the  haunts 
of  game  in  the  woods  and  the  lairs  of  fish  in  the 
streams  incite  the  passion  for  sport  to  couple  itself 
with  the  quest  and  yearning  for  rest  and  vitaliza- 
tion,  the  wayfarer's  pathway  in  the  wilderness  be- 
comes a  pilgrimage  through  abounding  scenes  of 
diversion  and  into  a  realm  of  fascination.  The  re- 
straints and  stress  of  civilization  and  the  city,  for 
the  time,  are  exchanged  for  the  exhilarating  free- 
dom and  simplicity  of  nature.  The  respited  sports- 
man, with  only  the  rod  or  gun  as  the  sceptre  of 
his  commanding  will  throughout  the  rude  domain, 
gratifies  himself  and  luxuriates  alike  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  advance  and  in  the  repose  of  the  halt. 
He  realizes  in  a  fullness  of  meaning  gained  from 
happy  experience,  that,  indeed,  "  there  is  a  pleasure 
in  the  pathless  woods." 

The  wildernesses  of  the  IS'orth-'West  are  free,  vast 
franchises  of  gunning  and  fishing.     The  many  rivers 
which   vein    these   immense  tracts   with   running 
(iii) 


IV  PREFACE. 

waters,  and  the  numberless  lakes  in  recesses  of  tlie 
woods,  are  inexhaustible  commons  of  piscary,  of- 
whose  affluent  stores  whosoever  will,  may,  without 
let,  partake.  For  an  excursion,  and  on  a  vacation 
furlouorh,  to  one  of  these  streams  noted  for  trout, 
three  of  the  Cliica^o  lawyers  in  August  joined  in  a 
party.  These  were  James  L.  High,  author  of  the 
works  on  "  Injunctions,"  "  Extraordinary  Legal 
Kemedies,"  etc.,  Josiah  H.  Bissell,  compiler  of 
"Bissell's  Reports,"  and  the  writer,  together  with 
Lorenzo  Pratt,  a  Chicago  capitalist. 

The  party  sought  recreation  and  mental  rest. 
Other  members  of  the  bar  had  journeyed  some  of 
those  regions,  in  their  vacation  freedom,  on  a  tour 
of  rest,  sport  and  pleasure.  They  had  found  and 
reported  a  full  and  rare  fruition  of  enjoyment,  in 
their  wanderings  to  and  on  the  Brule  river.  A 
like  expedition,  with  identical  purposes,  fallowing 
the  path  of  Cook,  Campbell,  Judge  Blodgett  and 
others,  promised  equal  and  similar  delight  and  good. 
It  was  a  journey  and  sojourn  in  open  air,  made  up  of 
canoeing,  tenting,  portaging  and  roughing  gener- 
ally, with  the  incidents  of  shooting  and  fishing. 

The  outfit  and  supplies  were  provided  in  Chi- 
cago, and  sent  by  the  Chicago  &  North -Western 
railway  to  Section  Eighteen,  a  station  of  that  road 
eighteen  miles  beyond  Marinette,  Wisconsin.  The 
other  accessories — a  team  for  the  land  route  and  the 
guides — were  engaged  in  advance  at  Marinette,  and 


PREFACE.  V 

met  the  partj  at  Section  Eighteen.  The  canoes 
■  were  to  be  procured  at  Badvvater,  on  the  Menomi- 
nee, where  tlie  water  travel  began. 

The  guides  were  Indians.  One  of  them  was 
George  Kaquotash,  a  full-blooded  Menominee,  mus- 
cular, lithe,  active — a  veteran  of  the  woods  and  of 
the  Brule.  The  other  was  Mitchell  Thebault, 
mostly  Menominee,  with  a  French  infusion  of  blood 
and  name,  with  his  complexion  paled  to  a  hue  a 
little  lighter  than  the  usual  Indian  copper  tint. 
Tliough  with  the  manners  and  habits,  in  some  de- 
gree, of  civilized  life,  thej  were  essentiallv,  in  na- 
ture and  native  dialect,  Indians.  In  another  Aug- 
ust a  second  excursion  to  the  Brule  river  was  made 
by  the  same  Chicago  party,  excepting  that  Mr. 
FkInxlest  Denison,  also  a  Chicago  lawyer,  took  the 
place  of  Mr.  Bissell. 

This  volume  is  an  intineraryor  narrative  of  these 
excursions.  It  is  made  up  and  revised  from  dia- 
ries whose  notes  were  jotted  down  on  the  way. 
They  were  kept  chiefly  to  vary  or  to  fill  up  and  di- 
vert idle  intervals,  or  otherwise  vacant  leisures. 
The  notes  were  off-hand,  and  took  the  impromptu 
form  and  pressure  of  the  body  of  the  time  when 
pencilled.  It  was  sought  to  retain  and  reflect 
to  the  writer,  perchance  to  his  fellow  tourists, 
images  of  summer  revels  that  might,  in  the 
light  of  memory,  re-appear  and  vivify  into  their 
original    charm    and     freshness.      Their     present 


VI  PKEFACE. 

publicity  is  more  at  the  instance  of  others  than  at 
that  of  the  writer  himself. 

They  are  now  given  to  the  press,  in  the  trust  that 
they  may,  in  this  form,  prove  acceptable  to  those 
who  have  sympathy  with  and  interest  in  matters  of 
forest  and  stream.  Their  merit  is  in  their  minute 
and  faithful  portrayal  of  the  real  life  and  adventures 
of  real  persons  in  pursuit  of  holiday  pastime  and 
respite.  In  the  realism  of  delineation  they  may  be 
serviceable,  and  so  justify  their  reproduction,  as 
faithfully  revealing  the  really  "jolly  good  time" 
that  may  easily,  surely,  inexpensively  and  quietly 
be  had  by  any  reasonable  party  exchanging  briefly 
the  toils  of  business  for  a  temporary  business  of 
pleasure,  and  that  in  distances  and  with  appliances 
within  ordinary  reach  and  possibility. 

They  may  show  how  that  business  sped  prosper- 
ously while  the  party  was  gliding  in  canoes,  foot- 
ing portages,  dwelling  in  tents,  sleeping  balmily  on 
hemlock  couches,  eating  with  eager  appetite,  and 
withal  affiliating  into  a  genial  free-and-easy  frater- 
nity, knowing  and  having  only  that  which  was 
mirth-inspiring,  health-helping,  reposeful  and  in- 
vigorating. Of  course,  this  is  simplj^  narration. 
And  while  angling  was  the  main  diversion  and  is 
the  chief  theme  of  its  pages,  the  work  is  not  that 
of  an  expert  or  proficient  angler,  who  can  speak  by. 
the  card,  or  from  a  professed  sjDortsman's  point  of 
view,  or  of  one  who  can  claim  to  discourse  instruct- 


^ 


PEEFACE.  Vll 

ively  on  angling  itself,  or  generally  on  its  delights. 
ISTor  does  it  aim  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  guide  book 
or  gazeteer. 

"  Though  dear  to  him  the  angler's  silent  trade, 
Through  peaceful  scenes  in  peacefulness  pursued," 

the  writer's  experiences  with  the  rod  have  been  in- 
frequent and  not  varied,  and  were  those  of  an  ama- 
teur and  not  of  an  adept.  While  he  cannot  dis- 
conrse  generally  or  didactically  on  this  sport  or  the 
pleasure  of  angling,  yet  in  portrajdng  the  real  lights 
and  shadows  of  a  brief  period  with  the  rod,  and 
somewhat  with  tlie  gun,  and  the  content,  the  cheer, 
the  fruitions  and  happenings  of  a  particular  party 
of  anglers  while  ronghing  it  in  the  open  air,  he  may 
indicate  and  illustrate  some  of  that  charm  with 
which  angling  has  always  enamored  so  many  per- 
sons of  various  pursuits,  temperament  and  genius, 
and  which  has  made  it  a  devotion  and  practice  of 
their  lives. 

Probably  the  secret  of  the  infatuation  of  this 
amusement  to  most  or  many  of  the  brothers  of  the 
angle,  is  to  be  found  in  the  close  and  quiet  com- 
munion and  sympatliy  with  nature  essential  to  the 
pursuit  of  the  spoil  of  the  water.  Sir  Edward 
Bulwer  Lytton  avows  that  he  can  j)alliate  the  wan- 
ton destructiveness  of  angling  by  a  consciousness 
that  its  pleasures  have  not  come  from  the  success 
of  the  treachery  practised  towards  a  poor  little  fish, 
"  but  rather  from  that  innocent  revelry  in  the  lux- 


VIU  PEEFACE. 

iiriance  of  summer  life  which  only  anglers  enjoy  to 
the  utmost."  Even  that  Dryasdust  book-worm, 
the  recluse  of  Oxford,  Burton,  has  perceived  a  hint 
of  this,  and  tells  us  in  the  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy" 
of  angling,  "it  is  still  and  quiet;  and  if  so  be  the 
angler  catch  no  fish,  yet  he  hath  a  wholesome  walk  to 
the  brook,  pleasant  shade  by  the  sweet  silver  streams ; 
he  hath  good  air  and  sweet  smells  of  fine  fresh 
meadow  flowers;  he  hears  the  melodious  harmony 
of  birds;  he  sees  the  swans,  herons,  ducks,  water- 
horns,  coots,  etc.,  and  many  other  fowl,  with  their 
brood,  which  he  thinketh  better  than  the  noise  of 
hounds  or  blast  of  horns,  and  all  the  sport  that  they 
can  \nake." 

It  needs  little  experience  on  the  stream  to  real- 
ize that  this  sympathy  and  converse  with  nature 
in  her  myriad  forms  of  air,  sky,  woods,  Avater,  and 
the  teeming  life  of  bird  and  brute  and  fish,  are  a 
great  part  of  the  boundless  delight  of  the  "  angler's 
silent  trade."  These  mysterious  influences  and 
attractions  of  nature  impart  to  the  use  of  the  rod 
a  refinement  and  fascination  which  elevate  it  above 
the  rank  of  a  merely  gross,  illiberal,  and  vulgar 
sport.  This  is  verified  in  the  instances  of  many 
noted  persons  who,  while  swaying  masterly  scep- 
tres over  the  minds  of  men,  have  yet  also  lovinglv 
plied  angling-rods  in  the  secluded  and  quiet 
streams. 

The  recall  of  a  few  names  will  illustrate   how 


PREFACE.  IX 

even  genius  has  ennobled  and  accredited  the  silent 
and  contemplative  recreation.  Many  men  of  fame, 
even  equal  to  Dr.  Jolmson's,  have  been  eminent  as 
anglers,  and  have  redeemed  and  discul])ated  ang- 
ling from  his  surly  and  foolish  sneer,  Gaj',  author 
of  the  "  Fables,"  and  of  the  "  Beggar's  Opera," 
must  have  fondly  haunted  and  fished  the  stream 
and  learned,  while  swaying  a  rod,  what  he  has  sung 
in  his  "Rural  Sports."  Who  can  say  how  much 
of  the  prelate  and  moralist  Paley's  speculations 
were  meditated  when  he  was  seclusively  and  dearly 
trouting  the  streams  of  Cambridgeshire?  He  was, 
as  Christopher  ITorth  says,  "  a  pellucid  writer,  and 
bloody  angler — a  ten-dozen-trout-a-day  man." 

"We  know  that  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  worshij)fully 
frequented  trout-j)ools  and  salmon-streams  with 
boyish  delight,  and  captured  their  glittering  spoil 
with  rapture  akin  to  that  of  a  successful  experi- 
ment in  his  laboratory,  and  that  he  prided  himself, 
perhaps,  more  on  his  "  Salmonia,  or  Days  of  Fly- 
fishing," than  he  did  on  his  invention  of  the  safety- 
lamp.  The  hero  of  Trafalgar  and  the  Nile,  even 
after  the  loss  of  his  right  arm,  wielded  in  his  left 
hand  an  angling  rod  with  a  fervor  and  success  akin 
to  that  with  which  he  waved  the  sword  of  war  and 
victory. 

When  Madame  Malibran,  a  queen  of  song,  felici- 
tated Chantre}"  on  his  supposed  con  amove  chisel- 
ing of  the  marble  in  his  studio,  the  frank  and  mod- 


X  PKEFACE. 

est  sculptor  ingenuouslj  bespoke  a  rulin<^  passion 
when  he  ])rotested:  "I'd  rather  be  a-fishing!" 
And  who  that  has  read  them  has  not  hnng  with 
delight  over  the  glowing  pages  of  Christopher 
North,  author  of  "  Nodes  Anibi'osiancB,  "  and  of 
numberless  contributions  to  the  literature  of  brook 
and  loch,  lake  and  river,  that  have  idealized  and 
poetized  angling  into  a  very  nobility  and  glory  of 
sport?  Certainly,  an  amusement  which'  in  itself 
and  in  its  accessories  has  unbended,  diverted  and 
charmed  minds  and  men  like  these,  must  be  far 
from  gross,  ignoble  or  puerile.  It  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  in  its  pursuit  many  gentlemen  sometimes, 
as  Burton  also  observes,  "  voluntarily  undertake 
that  to  satisfy  their  pleasure,  which  a  poor  m^an  for 
a  good  stipend  would  scarce  be  hired  to  undergo." 
Something  needs  to  be  said,  generally,  about  the 
regions  and  waters  mentioned  in  the  following 
pages,  the  modes  of  reaching  and  utilizing  them,  as 
introductory  to  the  accounts  of  the  excursions 
thither.  The  river  of  trout,  the  Brule  or  Bois 
Brule,  is  a  small,  clear,  cold,  rocky  stream  of  sixty 
miles,  issuing  from  Lake  Brule,  running  south  by 
east.  !Rot  far  from  its  mouth  it  is  joined  by  the 
Paint  river,  and  their  commingled  waters  flowing 
four  or  five  miles,  and  then  receiving  another  afflu- 
ent, the  Michigami  river,  as  blended  tributaries 
become  thence  the  Menominee  river.  This  is  a 
tortuous  stream  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty- 


PKEFACE.  XI 

five  miles,  running  into  Green  Bay,  witli  tlie  Miclii- 
o-an  town  of  Menominee  and  tlie  Wisconsin  town 
of  Marinette  at  its  mouth.  Botli  tlie  Brule  and 
Menominee  rivers  are  boundaries  between  the  two 
states. 

The  Michigami  river  has  its  source  in  Lake  Mich- 
igami,  in  the  iron  and  copper  regions  of  Lake 
Superior.  Its  course  is  southeasterly.  Its  length 
is  about  ninety  miles.  Our  party  struck  this  river 
at  Republic,  reaching  there  by  rail  from  Chicago, 
and  coursed  it  about  fifty-three  miles,  making  thence 
overland  and  water  routes  by  Lake  Mary,  the  Paint 
river.  Mud  lake,  the  Trout  (known  also  as  Sugar)  riv- 
er, Lone  Grave  (or  Bass),  lake  and  lakes  Chicagon  and 
Minnie,  to  the  Brule,  a  distance  of  thirty -five  miles. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Hamilton  and  Merryman 
lumbering  company's  camp,  about  eighteen  miles 
above  its  mouth,  the  Michigami,  from  the  point 
where  the  party  touched  it,  traverses  an  unbroken 
wilderness.  This  can  now  be  reached  by  team  on  a 
supply  road  from  Badwater,  which  also  extends  to 
the  headwaters  of  Ford  river.  The  Michigami 
flows  through  the  richest  of  forest  scenery,  and  on 
its  banks  are  numerous  points  where  deer  may  be 
shot,  and.  at  places  where  small  streams  come  in, 
trout  are  found.  Downward  canoeing  is  a  most 
delightful  experience  of  the  rambler  on  this  stream. 

The  Brule,  formerly,  also  ran  its  whole  course 
through    a    complete    wilderness.      It    was    then 


Xll  PKEFAOE. 

readied  bj  overland  ronte  from  Section  Eighteen, 
on  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  liailwaj,  by  way 
of  Badwater,  on  the  Menominee,  and  in  canoes 
thence.  Since  that  time,  several  changes  are  visible 
in  the  few  lower  miles  of  the  river.  About  seventeen 
miles  above  its  mouth  at  the  Michigami,  a  dam 
has  been  erected,  and  there  is  said  to  be  fine  trout- 
ing  at  that  point.  A  mile  below  that  is  Arm- 
strong's Camp,  and  below  the  latter  two  miles  is 
La  Montaigne's  Upper  Camp;  three  miles  further 
down  is  Cauldwell's  ftirm,  and  five  miles  from  the 
latter  is  Stephenson's  Brule  fiirm.  Here  is  the 
log  cabin  at  which  our  party  made  a  descent  on  the 
cook  and  his  dog. 

There  is  now  a  railroad,  operated  by  the  Chica- 
go and  North-Western  company,  the  Menominee 
Biver  Bailroad,  from  the  line  of  the  former  at  Me- 
nominee Biver  Junction  to  Quiniseck,  about  twenty- 
five  miles.  This  point  can  be  reached  hj  rail  from 
Chicago,  direct,  in  about  sixteen  hours.  From 
Quiniseck  a  new  wagon  road  lias  been  made 
to  Twin  Falls.  Between  the  two  falls  it  crosses 
the  Menominee  on  a  fine  iron  bridge  recently  con- 
structed, and  passes  near  the  south  end  of  Bad- 
water  (or  Spread  Eagle)  lakes  to  the  Commonwealth 
iron  mines,  thence  north-easterly,  near  Fisiier's 
lake,  to  Stephenson's  fiirm,  on  the  Bnile.  From 
this  farm  supply  roads  run  to  points  on  Paint 
river,  and  also  a  supply  road  tlieuce  runs  nine  miles 


rnEFACE.  xm 

to  Brule  dam,  recently  built.  The  distance  from 
Qainiseck  to  this  point  is  about  thirty  miles.  This 
dam  is  a  mile  below  Chickabiddy  Camp. 

Qniniseckis  already  something  of  a  village,  and 
is  the  depot  of  several  productive  iron  regions. 
From  Yulcan,  on  the  Menominee  River  Railroad, 
a  supply  road  runs  to  Sturgeon  river,  where  both 
good  hunting  and  fishing  may  be  had.  On  Pine 
river,  reached  from  Twin  Falls,  there  are  good  fish- 
ing and  hunting.  From  Carney,  on  the  Chicago 
and  North-Western  Railway,  a  road  runs  due  west, 
crossing  the  Menominee  at  the  Peemenee  farm  of 
the  N.  Ludington  Company,  to  the  north  branch  of 
Pike  river.  From  the  farm,  tlie  road  traverses  a 
park-like  and  picturesque  country  of  pine  plains, 
Norway  pines  and  scrub  oak,  and  is  reputed  to  be 
an  extremely  pleasant  and  easy  route.  The  trout- 
ing  on  the  north  branch  of  the  Pike,  as  well  as  on 
the  main  river,  is  said  to  be  superior.  Bass  fishing 
and  hunti ng  on  Caton  lakes  are  very  fine.  There  is  a 
good  hotel  at  Carney,  where  arrangements  can  be 
made  in  advance,  for  teams  and  supplies  for  parties 
in  quest  of  hunting  and  fishing  amusement  at  points 
and  in  regions  accessible  from  that  point.  The 
sportsman  may  also  make  a  fine  trip  on  the  Esca- 
naba  river,  by  reaching  it  by  rail  to  Smith  mine, 
and  thence  down  the  stream  by  canoe  or  boat  to  the 
mouth.  Trouting  and  deer  hunting  on  this  river, 
afford  most  excellent  sport. 


XIV  PBEFACE. 

In  consequence  of  these  recent  openings  np  of 
mining  and  lumbering  points,  and  of  roads  to  them, 
the  sporting  realms  of  forest  and  stream  are  made 
more  easily  and  directly  accessible,  A  sufficiency 
or  abundance  of  supplies,  the  necessary  and  proper 
staples  of  subsistence,  may  be  obtained  at  the  various 
logging  and  mining  points.  At  Marinette  and 
Menominee  a  retinue  of  Indian  guides  for  a  jour- 
ney and  sojourn  in  the  woods,  may  ahvaj^s  be  had. 

"With  the  exception  of  the  points  now  mentioned, 
the  regions  traversed  by  the  Brule  and  Michigami, 
are  wholly  a  wilderness,  unsettled,  even  by  Indians. 
The  only  landmarks  are  the  trails  or  portages,  im- 
passable except  on  foot,  and  known  only  to  hunters, 
trappers,  prospectors,  locators,  surveyors  or  adven- 
turous sportsmen  on  summer  rambles.  There  is 
no  sort  of  habitation  or  cultivation,  ^ot  more  than 
two  or  three  parties,  during  a  season,  penetrate 
these  forests.  For  such  parties  the  supplies  and 
appliances  of  subsistence  must  be  taken  along  or 
obtained  at  the  lumber  camps,  and  must  be  such  as 
will  admit  of  being  transported  in  canoes  and 
packed  over  the  carries. 

The  forests  are  almost  impenetrable,  from  the 
dense  luxuriant  growth,  undergrowth  and  fallen 
and  deca,ying  timber.  There  are  trails  or  port- 
ages, as  they  are  indifferently  called,  between  dif- 
ferent points,  and  these  are  passable  only  on  foot, 
and  most  of  them  with  difficulty  in  that  way.     The 


c- 


r. 


PREFACE.  XV 

canoe  is  the  means  of  travel.  The  country  is 
threaded  in  many  directions  with  watercourses,  and 
interspei'sed  with  lakes  and  lakelets,  and  hy  port- 
ages, the  canoes  and  the  outfit  of  the  parties  can  be 
transported  from  one  navigating  course  to  another. 

In  tliese  regions  mink,  otter,  deer,  some  bear,  and 
waterfowl,  particularly  in  their  season,  are  found. 
The  sportsman  who  ventures  through  the  forests 
may  find  in  them  and  along  the  water  a  surfeit  of 
booty  for  his  gun  or  rod.  For  the  most  part  he  is 
powerless,  except  when  near  some  of  the  points 
within  railway  reach  recently  opened,  to  utilize  the 
spoils  any  more  than  in  supplying  his  camp  fare  as 
he  passes  along.  Only  in  exceptional  instances, 
and  usually  in  limited  quantity,  his  trout,  or  deer, 
or  ducks,  beyond  the  needs  of  traveling  consump- 
tion, must  be  wasted  or  left  behind,  neither  sufii- 
cing  for  his  own  prolonged  wants  or  for  gifts  to 
friends  at  home. 

As  well  as  a  canoe  to  move  him,  the  traveler  must 
have  a  tent  to  house  him,  and  such  outfit  of  camping 
appliances  and  such  store  of  provisions  as  may  suit 
his  taste,  his  capacity  of  transporting  them,  the 
length  of  the  route  and  the  duration  of  his  sojourn. 
Most  essential;  too,  is  the  guide,  his  cicerone,  the 
impersonated  guide-book  of  the  way,  the  navigator 
of  the  birch-bark,  the  carrier  of  the  luggage,  the 
tent-builder,  the  log-heap  fireman,  the  cook,  the 
baker,  the  scullion,  in  fact  the  indispensable  general 


QO/incLon 


XVI  PKEFACE. 

iitiliU'  man  and  brother.  He  is,  or  shonld  he,  an 
Indian  or  half-breed,  and  practically  they  are  the 
same. 

He  is  a  natural  born  forester.  His  nature,  in- 
stincts, training,  traditions,  adapt  and  predestinate 
him  to  the  vagrancy  of  the  woods.  The  simplicity 
and  paucity  of  his  needs,  his  being  a  hunter  by  he- 
redity, specially  qualify  him  for  the  services  and 
experiences  incident  to  his  position  as  guide.  And 
though  in  contact  with  civilized  life,  and  sometimes 
engaged  in  its  industries,  the  aboriginal  nature  is 
only  modified,  but  never  wholly  effaced  by  his  hab- 
itancy  and  associations  in  town  and  village;  and  he 
still,  like  the  fox,  "  ne'er  so  tamed,  so  cherished, 
will  have  a  wild  trick  of  his  ancestors."  His  ances- 
try was  forest-born  and  forest-roving,  and  by  inher- 
itance come  his  cunning  and  fitness  in  woodcraft 
and  forestry.  The  white  man,  in  tliese  respects, 
only  compares  with  him  in  proportion  as  he  is  In- 
dianized. 

The  canoe  and  the  redskin  are  the  fitting  comple- 
ment of  each  other.  Paddle-swinging  and  poling 
are  necessary  concomitants  of  his  aboriginal  and 
traditional  utilization  of  barks  of  the  trees  for  a 
vessel  to  float  him,  and  for  a  tepee  to  shelter  liim. 
He  is  a  canoeist  by  a  sort  of  evolution  of  spe- 
cies. The  tent,  too,  is  a  variety  of  his  race  habita- 
iton — the  wigwam  or  tepee — the  easily  constructed 
and  readily  shifted  housing  and  shelter  of  wander- 


PliEFACE.  XVll 

ers.  His  senses  are  acute  and  sleepless;  of  what- 
ever pertains  to  the  wilderness  he  will  see  and 
hear  and  scent  and  feel  more  keenly  and  quickly 
than  those  having  ejes,  ears,  nostrils  and  per- 
ceptions schooled  in  the  less  exacting  necessities 
of  civilized  life.  These  were  our  experiences  of 
Indian  guides,  and  they  areconfii'med  by  tlie  similar 
realizations  of  other  parties.  This,  of  course,  is 
the  Indian  of  semi-civilization,  of  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan,  and  not  the  war-whooi3ing,  scalp-lifting, 
thieving  savage.  "  tattooed  or  woaded,  clad  in  win- 
ter-skins," of  the  great  out-West.  We  found  him 
docile,  patient,  willing  and  zealous,  and  most  satis- 
tying  in  his  service  to  us. 

An  excursion  to  and  through  the  wilderness  may, 
of  course,  be  at  such  cost  of  time,  of  money  and  of 
such  length  of  route  as  the  parties  may  choose. 
The  party  itself  may  consist  of  any  number  of  per- 
sons. The  outfit  may  be  of  any  desired  extent,  from 
that  of  enough,  on  a  scale  of  frugality  and  modera- 
tion, to  that  of  surperiluity,  on  a  scale  of  elegance 
and  luxury — either  in  a  just  comfortable  or  in  a 
princely  style.  The  considerations  quite  material  in 
that  respect  are  those  relating  to  convenience,  rapid- 
ity, facility  and  freedom  of  movement,  and  the  small- 
est and  least  burdensome  of  impedimenta  of  course 
subserve  or  answer  best  those  conditions. 

The  essentials  of  such  a  trip  are  simple  and  mod- 
erate.    For  apparel,  a  heavy  suit  worn  on  the  per- 


XVIU  PREFACE. 

son,  dark  shirts,  clianges  of  underclothing,  and  a 
few  toilette  articles,  are  sufficient.  For  provisions, 
a  supply  of  staples,  such  as  pork,  flour,  meal,  pota- 
toes, biscuit,  coffee  and  tea,  butter  and  lard,  calcu- 
lated on  the  scale  of  the  army  ration.  A  pair  of 
heaviest  blankets  to  each  man  and  the  tent  are  suffi- 
cient for  the  dormitory.  With  these  must  be  the 
necessary  utensils  for  cookery,  and  a  tin  service  for 
the  table.  To  all  of  these  may  be  added  whatever 
fancy  or  taste  may  prompt,  consistently  with  the 
portable  capacity. 

A  party  of  four  is  probably  the  most  pleasant  and 
practicable  for  companionship  and  congeniality. 
The  number  of  guides  should  equal  that  of  the  party. 
One  canoe  will  transport  four  persons  and  half  of 
the  outfit,  and  that  and  the  vessels  can  conveniently 
and  without  much  strain,  be  carried  over  the  por- 
tages. The  expense  of  the  trip  will  be  proportioned, 
certainly,  to  its  time,  distance  and  kind  of  equip- 
ment. 

A  month's  roving  and  sojourning  in  the  wilder- 
ness, as  distant  as  that  of  the  Brule,  with  ample 
outfit,  not  stinted  of  substantial  for  comfort,  in- 
clnding  the  compensation  of  guides,  and  fare  from 
Chicago  and  return,  and  the  canoes,  may  be  easily 
accomplished  by  each  of  a  party  of  four,  at  a  cost 
of  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  dollars.  Those  who 
have  rambled  in  vacations  in  quest  of  rest,  health 
and  sport,  in  those  or  similar  regions,  have  no  occa- 


PKEFACE.  XIX 

sion  ever  to  regret  their  cost  in  time  and  money. 

Since  this  work  has  been  in  type,  tlie  map  and 
tables  of  routes  and  distances,  have  been  prepared 
and  appended.  They  were  compiled  from  maps 
of  surveys  or  other  authentic  sources,  are  accurate, 
and  probably,  as  a  whole,  are  the  first  that  have 
appeared  in  any  form  accessible  to  the  public.  The 
distances  stated  in  the  book  are  such  as  were  given 
by  the  Indians,  or  were  conjectured  by  ourselves. 
The  names  of  places  are  spelled  as  they  were  pro- 
nounced by  the  guides.  In  only  a  few  instances 
are  there  errors  of  distance  or  of  orthography,  and 
they  are  trivial  and  unimportant.  The  map  and 
tables  will  serve  to  correct  them.  For  these  ta- 
bles and  the  map,  and  for  other  valuable  informa- 
tion, the  writer  is  indebted  to  Arthur  T.  Jones,  of 
Marinette,  whose  intelligence  in  respect  to  the  re- 
gions traversed,  and  their  facilities  for  sport  and 
modes  of  reaching  them,  is  as  conspicuous  as  the 
obliging  and  courteous  nature  which  prompted  him 
to  contribute  them. 

If  the  lover  of  woods  and  waters  shall,  on  peru- 
sal of  this  volume,  be  inspired  with  a  desire  to  go 
and  do  likewise  —  should  he  perceive  the  charm 
and  catch  the  spirit  of  idling,  rambling  and  sport- 
ing in  the  wilderness — especially  should  the  lawyer, 
wearied  and  spent  in  professional  labor,  seeking  to 
escape  it  and  the  roar  and  whirl  of  the  city,  be  led 
by  the  reading  to  betake  himself,  for  needed  recrea- 


XX  PREFACE. 

tion  and  respite,  to  the  silence  and  peace  of  the 
great  forests,  and  so  refresh  and  vitalize  his  wasted 
forces  for  his  renewed  work  of  the  desk  or  of  the 
re-opened  forum,  then  the  writer's  purpose  has 
not  been  fruitless,  his  ambition  will  have  been 
satisfied,  and  he  may  feel  that  he  has  in  a  sense  not 
unmeaning  and  in  a  measure  not  unimportant,  done 
something  towards  the  discharge  of  that  debt  which 
Lord  Bacon  says  every  lawyer  owes  to  his  profes- 
sion« 


TROUTIKG  ON  THE  BRULE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

SECTION  EIGHTEEN — THE  START — THE  ABORIGINES  AND  TEAM- 
STER— KAQUOTASH  REFRACTORY — RAIN — RELAY  HOUSE — 
A  BOTTLE-FIEND — A  CLERIC  CURJItTDGEON — ON  THE  "WAY 
— ARMA  YIRUMQUE  CANO — FIRST  BLOOD — GAIETY  IN  THE 
RAIN— AN  INDIAN  TATTERDEMALION — STEPHENSOK'S. 

At  two  o'clock,  afternoon,  we  slinnted  off,  and 
dumped  the  outfit  from  the  train,  at  Section  18. 
Tlie  eigliteenness  of  the  section  was  the  most 
there  was  of  it — tliat  is,  its  being  that  distance  in 
miles  from  Menominee.  The  rest — the  odds  and 
ends  of  it — was  a  small,  rude,  uncovered  log  plat- 
form, with  a  log  cabin  and  a  little  wheezing  steam 
sawmill  in  the  background  of  a  bit  of  clearing 
in  the  woods.  Here  began  our  acquaintance  with 
the  teamster,  George  Evanson,  a  tough  I*^orwe- 
gian,  with  a  span  of  rugged,  stout  horses,  giving. 


2  TKOUTING   ON   THE    BKULE. 

the  most  satisfying  assurances  of  possibilities  of 
drauo-ht  in  a  wag-on  fit  forTouwliino^,  and  also  with  our 
aboriginal  guides.  The  Indians  were  not  the  wild 
savages  typified  in  the  wooden  effigy  of  the  snuff 
and  tobacco  shops, with  moccasins,  leggings,  blanket, 
eagle-plume  and  tomahawk,  and  with  streaked  and 
painted  jaws.  One  was  a  full-blooded,  copper-skin- 
ned Menominee,  and  the  other  a  mixed-blooded  Me- 
nominee. They  were  coated,  trowsered  and  booted  in 
backwoods  atti re.  They  were  stalwart,  and  seeming- 
ly in  superb  order  for  our  purposes.  From  their  thews 
and  sinews  we  had  a  prescience  of  splendid  service 
and  all  re(j^uisite  utilities.  The  first  M'as  George 
Kaquotash,  and  the  other,  Mitchell  Thebault. 

The  road  started  rough  and  up  and  down.  We 
footed  some  distance  of  the  journey,  to  stretch  our 
legs  and  straighten  the  crinkles  of  the  railway  sit- 
ting. Kaquotash  was  grogg\'.  lie  seemed  to  fancy 
my  company,  and.  in  a  warmth  of  spontaneous 
friendliness,  veliemently  fraternized  me,  and  walked 
me  hand-in-hand,  until  I  tired  of  tlie  grip.  lie  pro- 
posed switching  off  and  heading  the  team  by  a 
short  cut  through  the  woods.  I  declined  taking  a 
route  of  continuous  shower-baths  through  the  drip- 
ping foliage.  Either  from  this,  or  because  he  was 
steaming  up  to  fuller  pressure  from  a  nip  he  took 
from  a  flask,  the  fraternal  affinity  rapidly  weakened, 
and  he  began  to  grow  ugly,  atid  soon,  from  mere 
"cussedness,"  or  from  a  streak  of  untamed  aboriginal 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  6 

deviltr}',  became  impudent,  defiant  and  mutinous. 
He  threatened  to  turn  back  and  go  liome.  He  sulked 
and  grumbled.  We  halted  in  the  rain,  to  appease 
him,  or  find  what  the  trouble  was.  When  our  own 
patience  was  about  exhausted  at  his  perv^ersity, 
he  suddenly  and  unaccountably  gave  in  and  lapsed 
into'sheepish  quiet  and  servility.  The  procession 
moved  on. 

We  had  arranged  our  time-table  to  make  Peemony 
farm  for  the  night.  The  showers,  however,  rather 
abated  the  ardor  of  advance.  The  Relay  House 
was  eight  miles  from  the  railway.  When  we 
reached  it,  we  were  wet  enough,  with  so  many  of 
the  jolly  kinks  wilted  out  of  ns  as  to  make  us  glad  of 
a  friendly  shelter.  Though  it  was  but  four  o'clock 
and  the  fever  of  on-and-ahead  was  not  all  subsi- 
ded, nobody  remonstrated  when  it  was  cautiously 
hinted  that  the  roof  of  a  house  was  preferable  to  the 
i*oof  of  a  showering  sky,  and,  regarding  the  situation 
as  inevitably  determinative,  we  accepted  the  neces- 
sity with  all  possible  good  grace.  Evanson  unhar- 
nessed the  dripping  roadsters  and  stabled  them. 

AVe  four  moistly  advanced  on  the  bar-room  stove, 
in  which  was  quickly  crackling  the  combustive  fuel, 
and  our  wet  clothes,  when  changed,  were  strung 
around  to  dry,  and  sent  up  plentiful  steaming  exhal- 
ations. George  had  an  exclusive  flask  of  whiskey, 
which  he  began  to  swig  from,  and  which  made  him 
again  ugly,  noisy  and  very  boozy.     He  muttered 


4  TROUTIXG    ON    THE    BRULE. 

and  mumbled  unintelligibly  at  everything  and 
everybody,  and  became  an  unmitigated  nuisance. 
He  was  smart  enough  withal  to  embosom  the  fiery 
bottle  flibbertigibbet  under  his  red  shirt,  and  tliere 
was  no  Chicago  lawyer  crafty  enough  to  slip  or  steal 
it  out.  There  was  no  help  for  it  but  to  let  his 
demonish  familiar  be  exhausted  to  emptiness.  It 
was  sharp  collective  finessing  to  get  him  laid  by  for 
the  night.  As  too  inflammatory  a  ration  for  his 
native  temperamentj  we  determined  out  of  abundant 
caution  to  suspend  George  from  the  franchise  of  the 
excursional  grog  thereafter. 

After  supper,  we  strolled  over  to  the  Menominee, 
a  half-mile  walk,  for  a  glimpse  of  river  scener3\ 
It  was  narrow  there,  and  brawled  in  little  rapids. 
A  short  way  down  the  bank  was  a  large,  abandoned, 
logman's  cabin.  There  was  a  ghostly  inmate  with- 
in it,  however,  a  Catholic  priest  with  a  lay  follower, 
utilizing  the  gloomy  hugeness  of  the  hut  for  tem- 
porary camping.  They  were  bound  up  the  river 
deer-hunting..  It  was  evident  that  the  consecrated 
sportsman  loved  to  handle  a  weapon  that  was  not 
spiritual,  as  well  as  to  twiddle  a  rosary.  He  may 
have  been  saintly,  too,  but  he  certainly  was  not  so- 
ciable, and  gave  us  men  of  the  .world  the  cold 
shoulder.  He  extended  to  us,  in  no  way,  any  ben- 
efit of  clergy;  and  willingly  sufi*ered  us  to  depart 
from  him  without  fatherly  benediction,  or  any  im- 
plied pax  voMscum. 


SUMMER   WAYFAEIKG.  "  0 

Next  morning,  we  'were  egregiously  chap-fallen 

when  we  took  weather  observations,  and  saw  rain, 

signs  of  greater  rain,  and  of  rain  all  daj.     On,  on, 

was  the  watchword,  though  the  heavens  should  fall. 

A  shower,  after  all,  was  a  trifle,  and  mast  not  be 

allowed  to  dash 

' '  The  even  virtue  of  our  enterprise, 

Nor  th'  insuppressive  mettle  of  our  spiiits." 

George's  whiske}^ -fiend  was  laid  completely;  he 
himself  was  straight,  more  white  and  less  Indian, 
and  in  full  feather  with  the  party.  We  piled  in  the 
wagon  and  went  on,  heroically  taking  the  drip  as  it 
came. 

Pratt  was  our  gunner.  His  weapon  was  a  shot- 
gun fowling  piece,  not  brought  for  any  premed- 
itated service  in  the  wa}'^  of  havoc  to  game,  of  wing 
or  of  foot,  but  merely  as  a  usual  and  handy  imple- 
ment to  have  along,  if  anything  should  come  in 
the  way  and  permit  itself  to  be  shot  at,  and,  at 
any  rate,  to  help  kill  time  with,  if  to  kill  nothing 
else.  He  was  not  a  practiced  marksman.  We  did 
not  count  much  on  his  often  harming  bird  or  beast, 
and  he  himself  was  not  very  vain  or  conceited  in 
tlie  way  of  fatality  or  prowess  with  his  gun.  But 
for  all  that,  he  trusted  in  Providence,  and  in  all  the 
pitiless  drench,  kept  his  powder  dry. 

Though  to  any  ardent  son  of  saltpetre,  the  pros- 
pect for  triggering  was  slim,  to  all  appearances,  a 
few  miles  out,  three  siek-looking  partridges,  soaked 


b  TROUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

and  bedraggled,  spiritless  as  wet  liens,  poked  stupid- 
ly out  of  a  cover  of  brush  by  the  wayside,  flapped 
the  raindrops  off  their  wings  and  fluttered  up  to  the 
limbs.  This  diance  would  animate  a  soul  under  the 
ribs  of  death,  and  aroused  Pratt  to  the  requirements 
of  the  exciting  crisis.  He  uncovered  his  battery,  so 
to  say,  and  got  out  in  the  mud,  adroitly  stole  a  march 
to  a  good  strategic  point,  made  ready,  took  aim,  and 
fired.  An  irrigated  partridge  "  felt  the  fiery  wound, 
fluttered  in  blood,  and  panting,  beat  the  ground." 
The  others  of  the  flock  were  too  weather-beaten  and 
droopy  to  whir  themselves  far  away.  Pratt  fol- 
lowed them  up,  and  again  sprung  the  trigger  and 
let  fly,  but  he  let  fly  the  miserable  fowls  as  well, 
unharmed. 

It  rained  steadily.  We  took  the  pouring  without 
flinching.  "\Ve  had  to.  Hydropathic  treatment 
was  unavoidable.  It  was  a  great  problem  to  keep 
the  stores  dry.  We  tried  to  tickle  ourselves  with 
mirth,  and  to  weather  it,  or  volatilize  the  exceed- 
ing moistness  and  ourselves  with  dry  jokes.  We 
jested  at  the  rain,  while  it  was  pelting  us.  High 
had  the  face  and  ill-timed  effrontery  to  torture  us 
with  his  Arkansas  hash  story,  a  varioruinth  edition 
of  it,  and  so  rung  the  changes  on  it  as  nearly  to 
cause  a  manifestation  of  our  Relay  House  hash. 
But  in  time  the  facetiae  became  sickish  and  too  flat. 
The  heavy  levity  was  too  much  for  us.  We  relapsed 
into  sullenness  and  sulks.     We  didn't  care.     We 


SUMMER   WATFAKING.  T 

were  resigned.  We  could  join  in  Falstaff's  invo- 
cation: "  Let  the  sky  rain  potatoes ;  let  it  thunder 
to  the  tune  of  Green  Sleeves,  hail  kissing  comfits, 
and  snow  eringoes."  ^ 

As  we  jogged  on,  the  road  worsened  greatly. 
High  and  I,  jostling  on  the  seat  with  the  driver,  par- 
tially covered  Bissell,  Pratt  and  the  tacit  aborigines, 
who  were  astride  and  atop  of  the  load,  ballasting  it, 
and  to  keep  from  being  pitched  off  was  all  the  art 
they  knew.  Kubber  coats  proved  the  wretched  fal- 
lacy of  caoutchouc.  I  wore  one,  which  glistened  in 
the  most  assuring  semblance  of  imperviability,  but 
ray  shoulders  were  no  dryer  than  my  legs.  The 
water  streamed  off  hats,  and  dribbled  down  our 
noses.     We  were  soaked  throncjh  and  through. 

The  roughness  of  the  road  added  greatly  to  the 
mishaps  of  the  rain.  The  last  ten  miles  of  way 
towards  Stephenson's  were  simply  execrable.  There 
was  nowhere  a  level  of  more  than  a  few  rods.  The 
vehicle  canted  from  one  side  to  the  other,  threaten- 
ing to  dump  the  top-heavy  load  of  men  and  bag- 
gage in  the  ditch,  creaking  and  straining,  as  in 
throes  of  trial,  bouncing  over  corduroy,  and  pitch- 
ing into  holes  and  ruts.  By  way  of  variety  of  mis- 
ery, some  or  all  of  us  got  out  and  walked,  and  soon, 
as  we  trod  along,  our  boots  or  shoes  were  soaked  like 
sponges,  and  squshed  the  water  up  our  shins  and 
knees.  The  asylum  we  longed  for  was  Stephen- 
son's, and  on  the  omne  ignotum  pro  magmjico  prin- 


S  TKOUTING   ON   THE    BRULE. 

ciple,  we  idealized  it  into  a  blissful  sanctuary  of 
content  and  shelter.  The  onl}'^  habitation  between 
that  and  the  Kelay  House  was  the  Peeniony  farm, 
at  the  rapids. .  The  road  trends  to  and  touches  the 
river. 

At  a  deserted  cabin  a  weather-bound,  dismal 
Menominee  tatterdemalion  was  crouching  under 
its  meagre  vestige  of  clap-board  roof  for  cover. 
Our  natives  interviewed  him,  and  learned  tliat  he 
was  navigating  supplies  np  to  Sturgeon  river  for 
John  Stockton  and  Eobert  Clark,  who  were  to  travel 
the  overland  route  there.  This  forlorn  redskin 
was  the  solitary  human  being  we  yet  had  met  all 
that  day.  It  restored  us  to  some  degree  of  grim 
complacency  to  perceive  that  we  were  not  the  only, 
or  even  most  miserable,  sinners  in  such  a  woful, 
aqueous  pliglit.  Like  the  hares  that  went  to  drown 
themselves  in  a  sheer  desperation  of  misery,  .yet 
took  heart  to  live  when  they  saw  the  frogs  in  the 
pool,  swelled  to  burstirig  with  batracliian  grief  far 
exceeding  their  own,  our  hearts  lifted  from  the 
depths,  at  the  comforting  thought  that  at  least  one 
wretched  pagan  was  in  more  "doleful  dumps  "  than 
we. 

When  told  we  were  within  two  miles  of  Stephen- 
son's our  hearts  rose  higher  from  the  depths.  But 
it  was  a  too  flattering  tale  that  hope  told  us.  The 
buoyancy  was  premature.  We  did  not  know  what 
that  reputed  two  miles  meant,  either  of  distance, 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  9 

time,  rain,  road  and  travel  under  increased  difficul- 
ties. Each  mile,  in  the  going,  seemed  a  league,  and. 
the  hour  and  a  half  of  harder  plodding  thither 
seemed  to  stretch  to  three.  After  tugging  slowly 
and  crookedly  up  a  hill,  where  the  law  of  gravitation 
appeared  to  oi)erate  with  more  than  its  usual  force 
against  our  ascent,  the  much-vaunted  and  eagerly 
looked-for  Stephenson's  hosj^ice  stood  before  us. 

It  was  a  large,  double,  low,  pine  log  and  log- 
men's cabin  of  the  most  primitive  frontier  order  of 
architecture.  But  we  promptly  unloaded  ourselves 
from  the  wagon,  each  one  dripping  like  a  bather 
from  his  wash.  The  wooden  pile  was  a  welcome 
castle  of  shelter.  Interiorly,  it  wasHtted  up  roughly 
but  comfortably,  for  the  needs  of  the  hardy  chop- 
pers, whose  axes  make  annual  havoc  in  the  neigh- 
boring forests  of  pine.  In  one  part,  are  tiers  of 
bunks  for  slee2)ers,  and  in  the  other,  are  the  kitchen 
and  dining  rooms.  The  loggers  live  there  only  in 
the  winter;  two  or  three  persons  were  all  who  quar- 
tered there  at  this  season. 

We  lost  no  time  in  changing  wet  for  dry  clothes. 
Every  peg  around  the  large  stove  was  festooned, 
and  three-legged  stools  were  hung  with  an  ill- 
favored  display  of  drenched  coats,  saturated  breeches, 
watered  shirts  and  soaked  socks,  which  so  strung 
about,  made  the  apartment  look  like  a  second-hand 
"  old  clo '  "  shop  in  Jewry.  They  M'ere  the  cast-off 
debris  of  garmenture,  then  doing  their  last  service. 


10  TROUTING   ON   THE    BRULE. 

Of  all  tlie  Stepliensonian  denizens,  the  cook  was  the 
most  imj)ortant  personage  to  us.  He  was  a  shiny- 
faced,  stumpy  young  French  Canadian,  with  a  patois 
of  Quebec  and  Boston.  But  he  knew  his  business 
of  skillet  and  dish,  and  discerning  hunger  as  the  one 
common  facial  expression  of  the  crowd,  he  bustled 
around  with  promptness  in  preparing  us  a  meal  of 
pork,  biscuit,  potatoes  and  coffee.  The  spread 
gratifyingly  surprised  and  satisfied  us.  At  the 
signal  we  charged  on  the  viands,  and  soon  the  bounti- 
ful provision  vanished  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a 
vision,  scarce  leaving  crust  or  scrap  behind. 

There  were  signs  of  clearing  in  the  sky,  and  the 
words  " go  ahead "  were  spoken;  but  then,  that  we 
were  well  dried  and  warmed,  and  could  not  surely 
forecast  dryness  and  warmth  for  the  rest  of  theda}', 
we  considerately  resolved  to  wait,  abide  and  bear 
the  ills  we  had — mainly  an  impatience  to  be  moving 
— rather  than  to  chance  others  that  we  knew  not 
of.  And,  as  if  specially  to  verify  to  us  our  sensible 
prescience  in  stajdng,  it  was  not  long  before  some 
western  clouds  trooped  up  in  dark  masses,  and 
rained  down  like  mad,  and  made  us  conscious  of 
liow  wisely  discerning  were  our  prophetic  souls,  and 
how  much  the  woodman's  rude  cabin  was  a  friendly 
home  of  ease  and  comfort. 

We  had  ample  chance  to  overhaul  the  tackle  and 
see  to  having  everything  in  perfect  trim.  Bissell 
took   the  situation  contentedly  enough  to  spread 


SUMMER  WAYFAKING.  11 

himself  on  the  floor,  pillowed  on  a  satchel,  and  in  the 
glow  of  the  firelight  he  reveled  in  the  pages  of  Victor 
Hugo's  '"93."  High  had  a  novel,  too,  and  in  it^ 
apart  and  with  his  pipe,  was  wrapt  in  pensive  con- 
templation, on  a  stool,  Pratt  and  I  cultivated  good 
graces  and  friendly  intimacy  with  the  maestro  of 
the  kitchen  bureau.  The  situation,  for  one  of 
weather-bound  confinement^  w^as  not,  by  any  means, 
intolerable. 


CHAPTER    II. 

rx  CLOVER — AFOOT — THE  KOAD — STURGEON  FARM — TO  DICK- 
Et's — A  LANDSCAPE  AND  RIVER  VIEW — AT  DICKEY'S — HIS 
DOG  AND  A  DINNER — A  CANOE — A  HURDLE  ROUTE — FIRST 
CAMP  —  BADWATER  — TOM  KING  — EMBARKATION  — MICHI- 
GAMI  FALLS — A  PICKEREL  CAPTURE — TRAIL  TO  BRULE 
FALLS — OLD  SLEDGE  AND  NEW  FRIENDS. 

Our  liost  of  tlie  cabin  meant  us  well,  and  was 
generous  of  his  best  hospitality.  He  had  a  couple 
of  double  bunks  fitted  expressly  for  our  sleeping, 
and  his  choicest  blankets  laid  to  enfold  us  in  their 
soft  and  ample  spread.  The  arrangement  looked 
well  enough,  and  promising  to  our  tired  natures 
of  sleep  that  would  be  balmy  and  restful.  Yet  when 
it  came  time  to  wrap  the  covers  of  the  bunk  around 
us,  certain  entomological  speculations  were  aroused 
by  the  prying  research  of  one  of  our  observers,  who 
had  a  restless  habit  of  inquisitiveness,  and  more 
than  a  suspicion  of  the  chnex  lectularius  crept 
into  our  study  of  imagination  and  perturbed  us. 
(12) 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  13 

We  were  in  a  dilemma  between  considerations  of 
vermin  and  of  propriety.  What  to  do  or  not  to  do, 
so  as  neither  to  offend  our  o^ood  host  or  onr  better 
selves,  was  a  delicate  question.  But  Bissell,  in  a 
pause  of  the  rain,  gadding  around  with  a  thirst  for 
knowledge,  or  on  a  reconnoisance  of  curiosity,  had 
discovered  a  haystack,  a  huge  cone  or  mound  of 
mown  grass,  with  a  movable  roofing  over  it.  lie 
bethought  himself  of  the  haycock  and  imparted  the 
discovery  to  us.  We  hailed  this  as  a  happy  solu- 
tion of  the  quandar3\  The  haymow  was  moved  as 
a  substitute  for  the  cabin  scaffolds,  and  after  the 
previous  question,  and  then  the  main  question 
being  put  —  the  party  decidedly  preferring  the 
chance  of  hay-seed  to  a  prospect  of  the  hospitable 
bug — the  matter  was  settled  nem.  con. 

We  stood  not  on  the  order  of  going.  To  charge  on 
and  scale  the  heights  of  the  towering  heap  were  no 
sooner  said  than  done,  and  once  on  the  summit,  we 
were  quickly  cuddled  in  the  blankets  and  nestling  in 
slumbrous  repose.  All  there  is  of  being  snug  as 
a  bug  in  a  rug  was  each  one's  happy  fate  while 
snuggling  in  the  haycock  dormitory.  We  had  at 
least  stolen  a  march  on  the  suspected  lectularian 
pest,  and  instead  of  it,  had  nothing  other  than 
slumber  "gently  o'er  us  stealing."  We  fancied, 
however,  that  the  master  of  the  messuage  greeted 
us  with  no  very  gushing  morning  salutation,  Avhen 
we  crept  out  of  the  haystack.     Possibjy  he  felt  that 


li  TKOUTIN'G    ON   THE    BKULIE. 

onr  giving  a  M'ide  berth  to  his  bnnks  was  rather  un- 
gracious— a  reflection  on  his  accommodation  and  an 
insensibility  to  the  kindness  and  hospitality  meant 
in  putting  them  into  extra  trim  for  our  service. 

The  shiny-faced  Canadian  breakfasted  us  early 
for  a  timely  start.  A  few  minutes  after  five,  before 
tliere  was  sun  to  glisten  the  drops  on  the  herbage, 
we  made  our  adieus  to  Stephenson's,  and  took  to  the 
road,  which  was  exceedingly  rough  and  uneven. 
At  first  we  went  afoot.  But  Pratt,  who  was  slightl  y 
ailing,  perched  on  the  seat  with  the  driver.  When 
we  mounted  and  squatted  on  the  luggage,  the 
bouncing  motion  of  the  wagon  made  it  more  un- 
pleasant to  hold  the  load  and  ourselves  on  than  it 
was  to  walk.  The  choice  between  the  veli.icular  and 
pedestrian  mode  of  travel  was  about  an  even  thing. 
We  saw  nothing  but  woods,  passed  two  log  clear- 
ings, heard  a  couple  of  unseen  choppers  hacking 
at  invisible  trees,  went  through  a  large  sugar  maple 
camp,  and  twice  touched  near  enough  the  river  to 
catch  its  silver  glistening  through  the  embowering 
verdure,  and  hear  the  babbling  music  of  the  rapids. 
Our  natives  went  afoot,  tramping  short-cuts,  and 
kept  in  the  advance.  Sturgeon  farm  was  the  first 
objective  point,  said  to  be  fifteen  miles  from  Steph- 
enson's. 

About  ten  o'clock  we  came  to  Sturgeon  river, 
where  it  flows  into  the  Menominee.  Fording  the 
former  at  its  mouth — it  beinsc  then  from  summer 


SUMMER    WAYFAUIXG.  15 

shrinking  much  down  in  the  mouth — we  struck  the 
bounds  of  Sturgeon,  otlierwise  Xe\v  York  farm, 
Mhich  lies  there  bordering  the  two  streams.  After 
the  density  of  w^ilderness  and  naturahiess  we  had 
traversed,  it  opened  on  us  like  a  perspective  of 
beauty  and  a  scene  of  life.  There  are  some  good 
buildings  of  wood  on  the  place,  a  capacious  barn,  a 
store-room,  and  a  large  acreage  of  meadow,  the 
property  of  a  lumbering  company.  It  is  the  base 
of  supplies  and  stores  of  various  kinds,  and  also 
the  abode  of  the  choppers  in  the  company's  winter 
employ.  There  is  an  aspect  of  neatness,  thrift,  en- 
terprise and  prosperity  about  the  farm.  Its  chief 
importance  to  us,  however,  was  in  its  capability  of 
supplying  wants  already  felt.  "We  were  customers 
on  its  subsistence  reserves. 

The  next  point  was  Dickey's.  Ten  miles  stretched 
between  it  and  the  farm.  It  was  not  a  much  more 
pleasing  route  than  that  already  passed  over.  It 
led  up  a  hill,  and  ran  a  goodly  distance  along  a  ridge 
of  hills,  and  some  of  it  was  comparatively  smooth 
going,  while  other  portions  of  the  road  were  rough 
and  broken.  "We  tested  considerably  our  pedestrian 
capacities  on  the  way.  Huckleberries  were  plen- 
tiful, and  we  picked  and  mouthed  our  fill  of  them. 
There  was  much  dead  timber,  with  scattering  num- 
bers of  skeleton  pines  and  hemlocks,  and  nothing 
enlivening  in  the  way  of  scenery  to  relieve  the 
cheerless  monotony. 


16  TKOUTINO    ON   THE   BRULE. 

"We  plodded  wearily  on  till  we  recaclied  a  liill  range 
overlooking  the  river.  There  was  an  open  S]mce 
from  which  the  timber  had  been  cleanly  stripped, 
and  a  deserted  cabin  then  in  decay,  was  the  sole  ves- 
tige of  a  former  busy  logging  camp.  The  ground 
was  worthless  for  culture,  but  had  a  great  apparent 
capacity  for  brambles  and  weeds.  And  when  its 
original  wealth  of  pines  had  been  exhausted,  the 
place  wtis  abandoned  and  relapsed  into  a  dismal 
waste.  But  the  site,  desolate  in  itself,  yet  afforded 
an  outlook  of  a  charming  stretch  of  river  and  forest 
panorama.  The  guides,  with  something  of  an  eye 
for,  the  beautiful,  had  told  us  of  the  view,  and  had 
led  us  to  it. 

High  said  that  within  his  experience,  which  was 
one  of  considerable  familiarity  with  the  indigenes 
of  Colorado,  Utah  and  Wyoming,  our  Indian  retinue 
were  the  first  of  the  race  whom  he  had  known  to 
have  a  sensibility  to  the  charms  of  scenery.  Kaquo- 
tash  and  Thebault  lingered,  as  we  did,  in  admi- 
ration of  the  vista.  Below  us  was  the  river  bend- 
ing, a  belt  or  outline  of  gleaming  silver  winding 
through  masses  of  verdant  ibrest  magically  coloring 
to  varying  and  shifting  hues,  from  the  stirring  of 
the  breeze,  the  shading  of  a  cloud  or  the  full  efful- 
gence of  the  sun.  The  blending  view  of  woodland 
and  stream  was  much  finer  than  that  at  Sturgeon 
farm,  and  was,  really,  our  first  vision  of  the 
Menominee  picturesque. 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  17 

We  were  tiring  of  the  way,  and  longing  for  Dick- 
^tfl^"  ey's,  wliere  we  were  to  halt  for  rest  and  dining. 
The  plodding  along  was  wearisome,  till  the  propor- 
tions of  his  cabin,  in  a  patch  of  clearing,  loomed 
into  siffht.  Like  the  few  and  far  between  kindred 
structures  of  the  woods,  it  was  of  the  rude,  primal, 
wooden  style  of  architecture.  It  is  a  trading  sta- 
tion, lonely  in  its  isolation  as  a  hermit's  retreat, 
where  the  scattered  few  Indians  re2)air  to  dicker 
their  furs,  skins  and  deer,  for  pork,  flour,  tobacco, 
gawdy  trinkets  and  such  commodities  as  suit  their 
primitive  wants  and  tastes. 

Dickey,  his  cook  and  dog,  were  sole  occupants  of 
the  solitary  ranch.  It  serves  as  a  domicile,  as  a  store 
in  a  rudimentary  form,  and  as  a  hostelry  or  inn,  in  a 
legal  sense,  as  a  place  where  the  traveler  is  furnished 
with  everything  he  wants,  provided  the  traveler  has 
occasion  fur  very  little.  The  little  we  wanted  was  a 
dinner.  Our  lean  and  hungry  look  was  hint  enough 
to  the  cook  to  vigorously  bestir  himself.  We  heard 
the  clatter  of  pans  and  the  simmer  of  the  fry,  and,  in 
our  waiting  eagerness,  grateful  and  tantalizing  fore- 
tastes of  the  meal  crept  into  our  senses  in  savory 
wafts  from  the  kitchen. 

While  the  preparation  was  going  on,  some  of  us 
stretched  on  the  bunks,  or  blanketed  shelves,  for  ease. 
Dickey's  white,  shaggy  dog  jumped  up  and  laid 
down  beside  the  recumbent,  or  tried  to;  and  when 
kicked  out,  betook  himself  to  another  and  offered  the 
2 


18  ■         TKOUTIXG    ON   THE    BKULE. 

same  doggish  familiarity,  but  witli  like  result.  The 
traveling  of  the  day  had  sharj)ly  appetized  us,  so  that 
the  devastation  of  bread,  pork,  potatoes,  syrup  and 
Oolong,  surprised,  though  satisfying,  ourselves,  but 
disquieted  the  host.  Probably,  with  limited  sup- 
plies in  the  out-of-the-way  cabin,  the  exploits  of  our 
six  able-bodied  appetites  in  reducing  his  stores, 
might  easily  have  inspired  some  anxiety,  if  not  actual 
consternation.  But  we  were  traveling  in  search 
of  appetites  of  zest  and  longing  unknown  to  the 
lagging  or  dormant  appetence  of  the  home-stomach. 
It  was  here  that  I  gave  way  to  the  seductiveness 
of  tobacco.  I  had  long  been  a  cloud-compeller, 
but  for  the  two  years  previously  was  a  teetotaler  in 
smoking,  and  the  delicious  aroma  of  the  weed  was 
only  known  to  me  in  the  vain  fruition  of  occasional 
collateral  sweets  and  sideway  perfumes,  which 
chanced  to  be  whiffed  about  by  other  smokers.  But 
here,  looking  forward  to  days  and  nights  in  the 
w^oods,  where,  of  all  places,  my  ancient  familiar  or 
genius  of  the  fume,  would  be  an  always  readily 
evoked  and  answering  solace  and  companion,  alike 
in  the  hours  of  the  sun  and  of  the  stars,  and  when 
just  at  my  side  I  saw  High  leaning  against  a  tree 
puffing  so  pleasingly,  and  as  if  impersonating  all 
the  beatitudes,  and  the  rich  burning  incense  that 
spread  in  a  glory  of  cloud  and  odor  from  his  amber- 
tipped  and  ruddy-tinted  meerschaum — "O,  it  came 
in  my  nose  like  the  sweet  scent  that  breathes  upon 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  19 

a  bank  of  violets,  stealing  and  giving  odor'' — the 
smoking  passion  sprang  from  its  trance  of  two 
years  like  smouldered  embers  leaping  into  instant, 
living  flame. 

I  was  at  once  irrecoverably  enthralled  in  the  deli- 
cious spell,  and  felt  my  utter  impoteney  to  banish 
the  fascinating  Satan-tempter  to  the  rear.  I  threw 
myself  headlong,  as  it  were,  into  the  full  tide  of 
fruition.  Dickey  had  clay-pipes  and  yellow  paper 
packages  of  tobacco  with  the  Milwaukee  trade-mark 
on.  Of  these  I  provided  a  supply;  as  they  were  the 
best  in  Dickey's  bazaar,  I  was  not  inclined  to  be 
critical  or  squeamish.  The  luxury  of  that  first  after- 
dinner  smoking  was  a  supreme  felicity  indeed. 

"And  the  last  trace  of  feeling  with  life  shall  depart, 
Ere  the  smoke  of  that  moment  shall  pass  from  my  heart." 

Our  prospectus  of  the  journey  had  noted  on  it, 
"  canoes  at  Badwater,"  But  Dickey's  saleable  estate 
included  a  birch  bark.  It  occurring  to  us  that 
as  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  more  than  the  pos- 
sible or  uncertain  bird  or  dozen  birds  in  the 
bush,  a  canoe  we  could  secure  was  more  valuable 
and  to  our  purpose  than  supposed  or  conjectural 
canoes  up  the  river,  we  advised  ourselves  to  in- 
vest in  a  present  vessel.  Our  marine  force,  George 
and  Thebault,  was  dispatched  to  the  river  to  inspect 
the  offered  bargain  and  report.  We  put  the  mat- 
ter in  our  pipes  and  leisurely  smoked  it  while  they 
were  gone.     Their    report  was  satisfactory.     The 


20  TEOUTINO   OX   THE   BKULE. 

canoe  was  first-class,  and  ready  for  instant  service. 
Dickey's  figure  was  twenty  dollars.  The  score  was 
settled. 

The  Indians  returned  to  the  river,  and  soon 
thence  shouldered  the  vessel  to  ns,  when  we  saw 
at  a  glance  that  we  had  acquired  a  very  model 
and  beauty  of  water-craft.  It  had  dimensions  for 
storage.  It  was  staunch  and  tight;  it  was  graceful 
and  shapely;  and  when  George  lifted  and  balanced 
it  on  his  head,  to  carry  it  through  the  woods,  we 
saw  its  good  qualities  of  form,  size,  grace  and  port- 
ability, at  a  glance.  It  protruded  like  an  elongated, 
but  seemingly  imponderable,  hood  of  bark,  or  huge 
fibrous  pod.  ^Nothing  but  Indian  experience  and 
patience  could  have  worked  it  a  way  through  such 
woods.  High  went  afoot  with  it  and  the  natives. 
It  was  to  be  portaged  to  a  point  above  Twin  Falls. 
On  the  trail  were  two  small  lakes.  Bissell,  Pratt 
and  myself  went  with  the  wagon. 

The  route,  or  landway,  from  Dickey's  to  Badwater 
was  ten  miles.  It  was  not  really  a  road,  in  the 
sense  of  that  leveling,  grubbing,  filling  and  cut- 
ting, which  are  supposed  to  be  implied  in  thp  legal 
conception  of  a  road  where  there  are  supervisors 
of  highways  about.  The  ground  was  of  varying 
grades  and  forms  of  curve;  declivities  and  acclivities, 
on  spurs  of  little  hills,  seemingly  too  abrupt  for 
safe  teaming,  and  menacing  constant  npsettings. 
The  branches  of  trees  had  often  to  be  pushed  aside; 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  21 

they  scratched  into  the  driver's  eyes,  and  if  our 
JSTorwegian  Jehu  liad  been  long-haired,  like  his 
remote  barbarous  ISTorse  progenitors,  there  were 
many  obtrusive  limbs  which  might  have  swung 
him,  like  Absalom,  by  the  locks.  The  trail  was 
sometimes  blocked  with  fallen  trees,  and  the  barri- 
cade yielded  only  to  the  axe,  or  it  might  be,  trees 
had  to  be  felled  to  open  a  detour. 

One  of  us  went  afoot,  in  advance,  to  explore  the 
way.  Another  followed  behind  to  see  that  nothing 
slipped  or  jarred  out  of  the  wagon.  AVe  skirted  one 
of  the  lakelets  which  the  Indians  had  crossed  with 
the  canoe,  and  S(jon  after,  coming  to  another  sheet,  a 
perilous  looking  bog  or  slough  extended  across  the 
wa}^,  and  there  was  nothing  for  us.  but  to  risk  the 
treacherous  passage.  The  horses  plunged  in  the 
slough,  and  at  once  sank  to  their  bellies,  and  pitched 
forward  and  fell,  one  nearly  on  top  of  the  other. 
They  floundered  and  struggled  a  moment.  The 
teamster  waded  in,  and  rapidly  unharnessing  the 
animals,  they  recovered  their  legs,  and  being  hitched 
to  the  tongue  and  put  to  their  mettle,  after  sundry 
hard  pulls,  they  jerked  the  vehicle  from  the  mire, 
out  on  solid  ground.  We  were  in  not  a  little  sus- 
pense as  to  the  j^robability  of  extricating  the  wagon, 
in  its  integrity,  from  the  awkward  fix. 

When  the  route  touched  the  river  above  Twin 
Falls,  Pratt  left  tlie  team  and  navigated  with  High 
the  canoe  there  launched  and  awaitino-  him.     There 


22  TROUTING    ON    THE    BKULE. 

were  then  five  miles  of  roufjliiiio:  before  us.  In 
tliat  distance,  tliere  were  the  same,  or  moi*e,  obsta- 
cles to  impede  our  journeying.  Fortunately,  the 
horses  were  of  the  sturdy  and  enduring  kind. 
Their  day's  work  would  have  worn  down  common 
scrubs.  Evanson  was  an  experienced  teamster,  and 
knew  his  business  well.  So  neither  wagon  nor 
horses  had  any  but  trivial  mishaps,  though  it  Avas 
ahnost  a  miracle  that  we  had  not  been  capsized  a 
dozen  times.  Towards  the  close  of  the  day  and  the 
end  of  the  I'oute,  difficulties  provokingly  multiplied. 
The  timber  across  the  trail  appeared  to  be  larger  and 
plentier,  and  the  chopping  was  more  laborious. 

The  gloom  of  the  twilight  gathered  in  the  trees 
above  us,  and  before  we  had  made  way  to  the  end  of 
the  trail,  the  night  encoinpnssed  us  in  darkness;  the 
twinkle  of  the  stai*s  through  the  overshadowing 
foliage  was  too  feeble  a  glimmer  to  guide  us  among 
the  mazes.  We  groped  the  way  cautiously,  and, 
spite  of  his  skill  in  night-driving,'  the  teamster 
drove  much  at  liap-hazard,  or  trusted  to  his  horses. 
When  within  a  few  rods  of  the  intended  stopping 
place,  we  were  impeded  in  a  fastness  of  fallen  timber 
from  which  there  was  no  G-ettino-  on  or  o^oiuir  back. 
We  were  unwittingly  impounded  for  the  night. 
We  were  actually  nearer  the  river  than  we  sup- 
posed, as  in  a  moment  or  so,  we  heard  the  halloo 
signal  of  the  water-wayfarers,  who  had  themselves 
but  just  barely  escaped  tlie  fate  of  being  helplessly 


SUMMER   WAYFAKIXG.  23 

Ijeniglited  down  the  river.  Oiir  responding  sliouts 
brought  them  quickly  to  us. 

As  we  had  to  make  the  best  of  the  imbroijlio  in 
which  we  had  in  snared  ourselv^es,  an  available  spot 
for  camping  was  found  by  candle  light.  It  was 
sliort  work  to  heap  and  fire  a  log  pile  into  flames. 
With  the  increasing  irradiation  of  the  blazes,  the 
dark  shadows  of  the  woods  lighted  up,  and  the  foli- 
age changed  into  weird  shapes  as  the  glare  of  the 
firelight  illumined  and  wavered.  They  lent  us,  too, 
a  glow  of  good  cheer.  We  could  well  have  resigned 
ourselves  to  the  situation,  were  it  not  that  the  same 
camp-fire  which  brightened  us  was  the  signal  for  the 
mosquitoes  to  swarm  upon  us  for  an  eager  recep- 
tion. 

So  too,  those  winged  motes,  with  most  annoy- 
ing perforating  effects,  the  midgets,  unmerci- 
fully pricked  us  at  every  exposure  of  cuticle.  Even 
the  oil  and  tar  with  which  we  smeared  our  faces, 
necks  and  hands,  gave  little  protection  against  the 
stinging  pests.  But  neither  they  nor  the  abundant 
viands  of  Dickey's  dinner,  abated  our  eagerness  for 
another  meal.  Thebault's  first  exploit  with  kettle 
and  pan,  though  rather  hurried,  so  as  sooner  to  meet 
the  yehemency  of  our  demands,  was  impatiently 
awaited.  We  came  up  smiling  to  our  first  table, 
the  provision  box,  with  blanket  bundles  for  seats, 
and  we  unanimously  pronounced  the  supper  a  happy 
success. 


24  TROTITING   ON    THE    BRULE. 

We  too  readily  yielded  to  sleep  to  be  long  or 
mucli  worried  by  mosquitoes  and  midgets.  In  the 
tent,  though,  the  notes  of  their  morning  reveille 
were  early  and  vigorously  struck,  and  there  was 
but  sliffht  yearning:  for  a  little  more  slumber  and 
folding  of  the  hands  in  the  blanket  couch.  The 
surroundings  were  not  pleasant,  and  v/e  were  not 
loth  to  be  off  on  the  way.  The  matinal  repast 
was  speeded  and  despatched  with,  at  least,  the  re- 
puted American  devouring  haste.  We  set  our 
shoulders  to  the  wheel  (figuratively)  and  helped 
the  wagon  out  of  its  nocturnal  dead-lock.  In  day- 
light, it  could  scarcely  have  been  driven  purposely 
into  such  an  environment  of  timber.  Evanson  left 
us  for  his  solitary  return  journey,  with  man}^  part- 
ing ffood  wishes.  We  then  lost  no  time  in  moving 
ourselves  and  the  expeditionary  paraphernalia  to  the 
river  bank. 

Small  meadows  on  either  side,  with  five  or  six 
rude  Indian  cabins  scattered  over  them,  all  but  one 
on  the  Michigan  shore,  were  the  vista  before  us, 
called  Bad  water.  A  squalid  Chippewa,  with  a 
few  ragged  redskin  youngsters,  were  the  populace 
that  silently  and  curiously  hung  around.  Across 
was  Tom  King's  cabin  home.  This  name  was  an 
adopted  alias.  He  was  really,  and  of  his  race, 
and  of  kith  and  kin,  known  as  AVeawbiny-Ket. 
He  was  the  particular  native  American  we  wished 
to  hold  present  imparlance  with.     For  further  ad- 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  25 

vance,  another  canoe  and  another  canoeist  were 
essential.  Tom  was  a  sine  qua  noii,  therefore,  and 
so  was  one  of  the  two  canoes  he  had, 

George  bawled  loudly  at  the  cabin,  and  brought 
out  the  whole  domestic  circle,  including  Tom  him- 
self, and  hailed  him  to  cross  over.  He  launched  a 
birch  bark,  and  paddled  it  and  himself  into  our 
presence.  The  interview  was  to  the  point,  and  the 
negotiation  brief.  We  could  have  a  canoe  and  we 
could  have  him.  The  legal  tender  required  for  the 
first  was  fifteen  dollars,  and  the  ^><?r  dleiii  in  cur- 
I'enc}^  for  the  services  was  a  dollar  and  a  quarter. 
This  was  not  hard  on  the  collective  exchequer,  and 
we  accepted  the  terras,  the  vessel  and  Tom.  Find- 
ing that  this  moderate  item,  in  our  general  expense 
account,  left  us  a  liberal  margin  within  the  estimate 
for  the  trip,  we  thought  it  would  not  be  unthrifty 
to  charter  another  Chippewa  auxiliary. 

The  Badwater  men  of  the  tribe  M'cre  out  fencino^ 
deer  for  winter  venison.  The  only  one  at  hand 
was  the  tawny  vagrant  we  first  saw.  He,  prob- 
ably, was  too  lazy  or  worthless  to  go  fencing  with 
his  more  enterprising  fellows.  Thebault  inter- 
preted our  overtures  to  him.  He,  thinking  he  was 
the  monopolist  of  all  the  present  available  paddling 
force  of  the  hamlet,  attempted  to  corner"  the  market 
on  us,  and  struck  for  three  dollars  a  day.  As  in 
fact  the  aboriginal  triumvirate  already  engaged 
would  v/ell  suflice,  his  exorbitant  terms  were  de- 
clined.    When   we  pusheji  off,  he  gazed  wistfully 


2G  TIIOUTING    ON    THE    BEULE. 

at  the  departing  squadron,  as  if  he  felt  ho  had 
badlj  overdone  the  business,  and  had  made  himself 
a  too  greedy  instance  of  vaulting  ambition  over- 
leaping itself. 

Tom  King  navigated  his  late  canoe,  with  High, 
Bissell,  and  part  of  the  luggage  embarked  in  it. 
Pratt,  m3-selfand  the  bulk  of  the  outfit,  with  George 
and  Thebault  for  polers,  were  in  the  larger  canoe, 
which  we  named  the  Dickey.  We  set  forth  in  high 
feather.  This  was  my  own  first  experience  of  birch 
bark  navigation.  The  shapely  and  fragile  coracle 
sat  on  the  water  gracefully  and  in  feather-like  light- 
ness. Its  treacherous  unsteadiness  and  vagaries  of 
equilibrium  were  speedily  learned,  and  demanded 
a  critical  and  ticklish  nicety  of  poise  or  equilibra- 
tion quite  new  to  me.  We  had  to  bestow  ourselves 
most  cautiously,  squatted  on  our  blanket  bundles, 
with  our  legs  awkwardly  twisted,  and  cramping 
and  bending  ourselves  low,  making  it  an  efibrt  and 
a  study  to  maintain  the  trim.  The  facility  of 
careening,  the  peril  of  a  heedless  movement  turning 
the  balance,  or  of  tipping  her  over,  made  our 
probational  experiences  and  trials  in  attitudes  and 
positions,  for  a  time,  anything  but  assuring. 

It  was  curious  how  fidgety  we  became  and  how 
often  we  wanted  to  shift  positions,  and  had  iri-epres- 
sibie  tendency  to  motions  we  ought  not  to  and  dare 
not  make.  Of  course,  my  immediate  notion  was, 
that  the  vaunted  perfection  of  the  canoe,  as  a  pleas- 


SUMMER    WAYFAEING.  27 

ure  boat,  and  the  reputed  charms  of  canoeing,  were 
mythical  and  a  tale  to  be  told  to  the  marines.  To 
me,  the  disaster  of  a  ducking  seemed  too  imminent 
to  admit  of  any  foolishness  or  indiscretion.  Still, 
High,  who  knew  the  eccentricities  of  the  birches, 
had  told  us  we  would  get  used  to  all  that  sort  of 
thing. 

Our  Menominees  knew  their  business.  .  One  fore 
and  one  aft,  they  poled  the  canoe  along  shore,  with 
tireless  steadiness,  and  made  it  speed,  mile  after 
mile,  with  an  ease  and  uniformity  quite  admirable 
and  surprising  to  us.  The  Tom  King — as  we  chris- 
tened our  purchase  from  liim — followed  closely  in 
our  wake.  High  and  Bissell  puthingly  devoted 
their  Chicago  muscle  to  occasional  short  paddling, 
adding  their  by-play  of  momentum  to  Tom's  push- 
ing. Tom  surprised  a  wild  duck  napping  among 
the  grasses  fringing  the  shore,  and  dispatched  him 
with  a  stroke  of  his  pole.  This  took  the  job  oif 
Pratt's  hands  of  firing  into  the  unwary  water- fowl. 
By  noon  we  had  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Michi- 
gami  river,  a  few  yards  up  which  are  the  falls,  a  cas- 
cade of  about  thirty  feet  in  higlit,  over  which  the 
whole  stream  rushes  in  one  volume — but  without 
any  picturesque  accessories.  We  ran  in  for  lunch 
and  to  prepare  for  a  portage. 

By  overland,  the  distance  is  three  miles  to  Brule 
Falls,  while  by  river  it  is  seven  miles.  We  pur- 
posed sending  all  the  load  by  the  Dickey,  and  to 


28  TKOUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

trail  to  the  Paint,  and  as  that  river  conies  in  near  the 
falls,  and  would  have  to  he  crossed,  to  portage  the 
smaller  canoe  for  ferriao-e  there.  We  were  eao-er  to 
reach  the  river  of  trout  sooner  than  we  could  by  the 
water  ascent,  and  besides,  we  wanted  to  relieve  our- 
selves from  the  weariness  of  our  compressed,  and  in- 
the-stocks-like,  sitting  in  the  canoe.  The  boys — for 
that  was  the  term  of  designation  of  the  guides  among 
ourselves — having  engaged  in  culinary  procedure. 
High  and  I  mounted  our  rods  to  employ  the  vacant 
interim  in  prospecting  the  waters  for  possible  trout. 
Pratt  and  Bissell  lazily  reclined  in  the  shade,  sniff- 
ing  the   savoriness   of   the   coming   dinner. 

We  brought  up  close  under  the  falls,  in  the  moist- 
ure of  the  spray,  for  the  piscatory  trial.  I  had  the 
mishap  of  slipping  a  foothold  from  a  wet  boulder  and 
pitched  half  over  and  in  among  sharp  rocks,  with 
the  slight  damage  of  peeling  a  shin.  High  posted 
himself  on  a  projecting  rock  and  patiently  whipped 
the  foaming  element  with  his  fly  for  a  conjectural 
trout,  but  it  was  love's  labor  lost,  and  when  his  as- 
siduity was  at  length  rewarded  with  the  capture  of 
a  worthless  chub,  he  retired  with  intense  disgust 
from  his  coigne  of  rock  and  from  the  experimental 
sport. 

But  the  ignominious  chub  proved  a  prelude 
of  good  luck  to  me.  I  impaled  it  on  my  hook,  and- 
threw  in  a  shalliow  pool,  which  was  foamy  and  froth- 
bubbled  and  an  eddy  below  the  cascade.     Some  un- 


SUM]SIER   WAYFARING.  29 

known  straggler  of  tlie  fins  pounced  on  tlie  bait, 
and  dashed  off  with  a  few  vards  of  line,  but  flopped 
off  without  making  way  with  the  chub.  It  was  cast 
again,  and  had  barely  sunk  under  the  foam,  when 
quick,  like  an  electrical  effect,  I  felt  the  jerk  and 
heavy  pull  of  some  fish  that  would  put  an  angler's 
skill  to  the  test.  It  nearly  pulled  me  off  my  feet. 
The  tip  of  the  rod  snapped,  and  tlie  line  went  buzz- 
ing down  stream.  The  broken  tip  prevented  play- 
ing, but  I  perceived  tlie  fish  was  struck,  and  began 
reeling  up,  and  then  found  I  was  dragging  the  cap- 
tive on  the  bottom.  He  made  a  jump  which 
foamed  the  water  and  revealed  his  size,  but  he  was 
fast  on  the  hook.  I  slowly  worked  him  in.  When 
it  was  apparent  what  a  monster  he  was,  High 
snatched  up  a  slab  and  volunteered  to  brain  him 
with  the  timber.  I  declined  the  barbarous  sugges- 
tion, and  brought  him  ashore  legitimately. 

"  Cast  on  the  bank,  he  dies  with  gasping  pains, 
And  trickUng  blood  his  silver  mail  distains." 

It  proved  to  be  a  ten  pound  pickerel.  That  catcli, 
when  taken  in,  made  a  sensation  in  the  camp. 
"When  I  mentioned  High's  generous  offer  of  smash- 
ing the  fish,  it  was  noted  as  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  country  to  kill  ducks  with  a  pole  and  catch  fish 
with  a  club. 

.  Thebault  and  George  loaded  all  the  outfit  in  the 
larger  canoe  and  started  it  up  the  river.  Tom 
shouldered  the  smaller  one  and  balanced  it  on  his 


30  TROUTING    ON    THE    BEULE. 

head  for  the  carry,  and  with  it,  trndi^ed  through  the 
woods  on  a  crooked  path,  as  easily  overcoming  the 
obstacles  of  the  \vay  as  any  of  ns  who  only  carried 
rods  and  baskets,  and  keej)ing  equal  pace  with  the 
party.  This  facility  of  portage,  as,  also,  another 
nse  to  which  it  was  pnt,  when  Tom  slanted  it,  in- 
verted, against  a  tree,  to  shelter  us  all  from  a  sud- 
den drenching  shower,  went  far  to  dispel  my  skep- 
ticism as  to  the  many  boasted  merits  of  the  birch 
bark  canoe.  Bissell  was  ambitious  to  catch  the 
first  glimpse  of  the  stream  which  was  the  longed- 
for  scene  of  our  sport,  and  with  this  aspiration  as 
an  accelerating  impulse,  kept  the  extreme  front  of 
the  line  of  march.  When,  at  length,  he  vocifer- 
ously shouted  "Brule!  Brnle!"  we  huzzaed  him 
back  an  uj)roarious  answer,  "the  Brule!  the  Brule!" 
The  Paint  coming  in  there  was  frothy  and  foam- 
ing with  rapids.  We  had  to  run  the  apj^arently 
portentous  ordeal  to  reach  the  further  shore  of  the 
Brule.  It  would  be  my  first  personal  experience 
of  the  kind,  and  when  I  saw  the  water  bursting 
madly  over  the  rocks,  and  knew  that  the  slightest 
miscalculation,  or  swerve,  or  accident,  might  cap- 
size the  birch  or  dash  it  in  pieces  on  a  boulder,  I 
was,  at  least,  a  trifle  anxious.  But  I  also  knew 
that  Tom  King  would  hold  it  firmly  and  well  in 
hand.  We  were  scarcely  seated,  when  almost  before 
one  could  realize  it,  we  were  swept  safely  through 
and  over,  and  touched  our  feet  on  the  bank  of  the 
Brule. 


SUMMER    WAYFAEING.  31 

The  fishermen  were  ready  for  a  trial  of  the  rod 
at  the  very  first.  Eagerness  became  enthnsiasm, 
and  the  party,  excepting  myself,  at  once  sought 
places  in  which  to  throw  their  flies.  I  was  not 
myself,  just  then,  so  piscatorially  frantic  as  that 
"with  wings  as  swift  as  meditation  or  the  thoughts 
of  love,"  I  should  sweep  to  my  trouting.  I  pre- 
ferred a  leisurely  stroll,  to  take  in  the  situation. 
Straying  onlj^  a  few  paces  among  the  trees,  I  came 
upon  a  full-i=pread  tent  in  which,  through  clouds  of 
tobacco  smoke,  I  discerned  a  party  in  shirt-sleeves, 
vigorously  fli])ping  cards  in  a  game  of  old  sledge. 
The  gentleman,  who  said  he  had  played  the  deuce 
for  low,  was  first  to  see  me,  and  his  and  my  surprise 
were  simultaneous  and  mutual.  The  surprise  was 
for  a  few  instants  only.  There  was  a  greeting  all 
around.  I  was  invited  to  a  camp-stool,  and  sat. 
Who  they  were  and  from  whence,  who  I  was,  my 
wherefrom  and  whereto,  were  mysteries  only  of  the 
brief  interval  in  which  hasty  self-introductions  could 
be  exchanged.  Enough  of  their  story  and  of  t'heir 
recent  travel  and  happenings  were  made  known  to  me 
to  enable  me  soon  afterwards,  as  mutual  friend,  to 
introduce  them  and  our  party. 

My  comrades  1  ad  straggledin,  looking  blank,  as, 
in  all  their  switching,  neither  had  had  a  rise.  But 
they  forgot  their  chagrin  in  the  pleasure  of  the 
new  acquaintance,  which  was  not  long  in  being  put 
on  most  friendly  footing.     Our  tents  were  pitched 


32  TKOUTIXG    OX    THE  'bRULE. 

near  theirs.  We  .were  neighbors  at  once.  But 
the  new  friends  did  not  divert  Bissell  from  his  rest- 
less and  hopeful  ambition  to  swoop  out  a  mess, 
and  with  his  rod  he  started  out  in  quest  of  amuse- 
ment. When  he  rejoined  us,  he  cackled  rather 
triumphantly  over  a  single  puny  trout  he  had  cap- 
ured,  because  it  was  the  first  trophy  of  the  campaign. 
Our  neighbors  had  a  portable  oven,  and  prepared 
us  a  pan  of  biscuit  wliich  were  as  light  as  the 
bulbs  of  foam  on  the  water,  and  with  them  and 
the  spread  from  our  own  supplies,  we  thought  the 
refection  was  elegant.  Had  Dickey  been  there  to 
observe  the  gusto  of  enjoyment  by  us,  he  would 
have  seen  that  appetite  had  lost  nothing  of  its 
healthiness  by  our  further  travel  in  pursuit  of  one. 
The  evening  and  night  wore  delightfully  away, 
in  a  circle  of  both  parties  around  the  camp-fire, 
in  gossip  of  sport,  travel  and  experience  by  field 
and  flood.  Our  neighbors  had  been  encamped 
here  for  a  week.  They  had  trouted  no  further  than 
six  or  seven  miles  up  the  Brule.  Their  success 
had  not  been  brilliant,  and  was  not  encouraging 
to  us.  But  then  the  stream  was  lower  than  now, 
when  it  was  swollen  from  the  rains  They  had 
but  just  touched  the  region  of  prosperous  fishing. 
But  they  soothed  and  consoled  themselves  in  the 
confidence  of  making  up  for  lost  time  and  dearth 
of  trout,  by  reprisals  and  compensation  on  the 
deer  down  on   the  Menominee.     They  were  excel- 


SUMilEE   WATFAEIXG.  33 

lentlj  equipped  for  tliat  sport  as  well  as  for  com- 
fortable sojourn  iu  the  woods.  These  gentlemen 
were  G.  D.  Hayden  and  G.  Barry  of  Alton,  and  W. 
W.  Brown  of  Jacksonville.  Our  sociabilities  with 
them  were  prolonged  till  late.  When  we  retired  to 
the  blankets  we  were  lulled  into  deepest  sleep  and 
into  dreams  by  the  murmur  of  the  waters  that  tum- 
bled at  our  feet. 
3 


CHAPTEK    III. 

GOOD-BYE  TO  NEW-MADE  FRIENDS — ADVANCE  ON  THE  BRULE 
— SKIRMISHING  FOR  TROUT — A  FIRST  TROUT  AND  WHOOP 
la! — WADING  FOR  FISH — CAMP  THEBAULT — TROUT  SUPPER 
.  — METAPHYSICS  —  A  LEAKY  TENT  —  TABLEWARE  —  HIGH's 
DIARIAL  EFFORT — LITERARY  RESOURCES — SUNDAY  IN  CAMP 
AND  ON  RIVER — TROUT  RODS — SUNSHINE — CAMP-FIRE. 

While  woodsmen,  the  weather  prospects  were 
our  first  concern.  Beyond  the  range  of  Old  Proba- 
bilities and  his  reports,  we  could  only  forecast  the 
changes  from  the  air  and  skies.  To  be  drenched  in 
the  rain,  or  to  shiver  in  a  raw  atmosphere,  was  not 
favorable  to  enterprises  of  pith  and  moment.  The 
early  morning  signs,  when  we  looked  out  and  read 
the  heavens,  were  portentous  of  showers,  and  boded 
no  pleasant  starting  of  our  Alton  friends  downward, 
or  of  our  own  starting  upward.  The  tokens,  how- 
ever, somewhat  later,  were  more  hopeful.  The  cloud- 
iness while  we  were  breakfasting  and  then  smoking, 
partially  dispersed,  and  fitful  glimpses  of  sun  came 
(34) 


SUMMER   WAYi^ARING.  dO 

tlirongh,  and  niuch  enlivened  the  prospects  of  the 
day  and  ourselves.  The  Alton  party,  when  it  was 
seen  that  no  more  than  showers,  and  not  torrents 
of  rain  were  probable,  struck  its  tent  and  shipped 
its  impedimenta  into  the  battean;  and  after  an 
exchange  of  warm  parting  civilities,  embarked 
and  rapidly  dropped  down  out  of  view. 

Our  care  was,  then,  to  pack  up  and  pack  oiF.  Our 
mission  of  sport  would  be  not  really  begun  until 
we  were  on  the  bosom  of  the  Brule.  We  thous^ht 
ourselves  weather-wise  enough  to  predict  a  dry,  if 
not  clear  day,  so  we  set  out  hopefully.  There 
were  rapids  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  Indians 
forced  the  canoes  up  the  foaming  torrent.  "We 
passed  them  by  a  flank  movement  on  foot.  High 
and  Bissell  sometimes  tarried  at  points,  and  risked 
a  footing  on  unsteady  logs  on  the  shore  to  throw  a 
fly.  The  only  success  they  had  for  their  pains,  was 
to  permanently  hang  some  of  their  tackle  on  ob- 
Ftructive  limbs. 

When  re-embarked,  Pratt  and  myself,  with  Ka- 
quotash  and  Thebault,  manned  the  large  birch,  and 
as  the  armament  was  borne  by  it,  it  was  the  gun- 
boat of  the  flotilla.  As  we  were  now  making  head- 
way into  the  supposed  domain  of  deer,  bear,  wolf, 
fox,  mink,  muskrat  and  duck,  it  was  tit  that  our 
craft  should  lead  the  advance.  It  was  Pratt's  mission 
to  deal  with  any  hapless  creature  of  the  Brule  ani- 
mal kingdom  that  might  appear. 


36  TROUTING    OX   THE    BRULE. 

Up  to  noon  not  a  trontwas  taken.  This  did  not 
dislieurten  ns,  for  we  liad  not  jet  touclied  the 
verge  of  the  trout  fishing  j»roper.  But,  after  lunch, 
and  an  hour  furtlier  on,  the  luring  fly  began  to 
strike  the  responsive  tish.  The  canoes  were  held 
at  a  stand,  by  the  setting  poles,  at  intervals,  and 
the  water  was  vigorously  w  hijiped  with  casts.  As  a 
troutsman,  I  was  the  decided  novice  of  the  party. 
My  throwing  was  rather  wild,  and  Pratt  was  more 
particular  about  it  than  I  was,  watching  it  more 
than  he  did  his  own,  and,  though  I  did  not  cause  him 
an  optical  catastrophe  by  whirling  the  hook  in  his 
eyes,  he  feared  I  would.  As  to  twisting  my  line 
with  his,  or  wrapping  it  round  his  rod,  he  didn't 
mind  that  much.  It  was  merely  our  good  luck 
that  the  canoe  did  not  capsize,  when  he  ducked  his 
head  down,  on  one  side,  to  give  my  line  clear  swing, 
and  threw  her  out  of  trim.  His  patience  was  above 
all  praise.  "Look  out,  King!"  was  the  sharpest 
of  his  cautionary  expostulations.  I  tried  to  look 
out,  and  I  know  he  did  himself,  vigilantly  look 
out.  Nor  had  I  the  trained  cunning  of  hand  to 
securely  fasten  a  fish.  My  jerking  was  too  soon  or 
too  tardy.  Pratt,  however,  was  good  enough  to 
encourage  me  by  telling  me  I  would  soon  get  my 
hand  in. 

George  ran  the  canoe  to  a  large  boulder  which 
parted  the  river  into  swirls  below  it.  I  preferred 
it  for  a  base  to  cast  from,  rather  than  from  the 


SUMMER   WATFAEIXG.  37 

canoe,  in  which  I  did  not  yet  dare  perj^endicular- 
itj.  I  stepped  out  on  the  rock,  and  cast  a  fresli  fly. 
In  a  twinkling  it  was  snatched  at,  and  to  ray  sur- 
prise, I  had  really  struck  a  trout  of  dimensions,  as 
was  plain  from  the  lively  struggle  it  made.  But  I 
brought  him  in.  It  was  about  a  fourteen-ouncer. 
It  was  the  first  trout  I  ever  caught.  The  achieve- 
ment brought  down  the  house,  and  the  whole  party 
huzzaed  with  a  will.  I  was  once  told  that  the  sensa- 
tion of  catching  one's  first  trout  was  akin  to  a 
father's  elation  over  his  first  baby.  That  was  a 
criterion  of  the  ecstatic  of  wliich  I  had  had  only  hear- 
say experience,  but,  though  in  the  taking  of  the  trout 
there  was  a  bit  of  satisfaction,  it  did  not  electrify 
me  into  thrills  of  delight,  even  though  my  victim, 
by  its  size,  dwarfed  the  pettier  catches  of  the  day. 
The  clouds  began  ominous  lowering,  and  provi- 
dent forethought  moved  us  on  to  the  intended  camp- 
ing place.  George  and  Thebault  knew  the  river 
and  the  eligibilities  of  shores,  ground,  situation, 
distance,  etc.,  for  encampment,  and  had  an  afore- 
thought spot  selected.  In  the  previous  summer 
Thebault  had  camped  and  cooked  there  in  the  serv- 
ice of  our  bar  brethren,  George  C.  Campbell  and 
Burton  C.  Cook,  of  Chicago.  We  pushed  on  stead- 
ily, so  as  to  forerun  the  rain.  Bissell's  taste  of  the 
sport  was  not  satisfied  with  random  casts  from  the 
canoe.  He  turned  up  his  breeches  and  stepped  out 
to  wade  the  riffles  and  currents  at  will,  in  quest  of 


38  TKODTISG    ON    THE    BELLE. 

more  trout.  He  was  left  groping  and  stumbling  all 
about  in  tlie  water,  to  be  returned  for  with  a  canoe 
to  carry  him  to  camp. 

The  camping  ground  WdS  a  high,  steep  grassy 
bank,  at  a  bend,  and  with  a  space,  under  immense 
trees,  already  cleared  for  prior  camps.  "We  had 
come  to  it  in  complacent  mood.  We  had  made  a 
fair  start  in  trouting.  The  record  of  the  day,  not 
so  much  for  its  count — fiftj'-five — but  as  a  promise 
of  better  yet  to  come,  a  catching  that  was  but  a 
cheering  prologue  to  the  more  lavish  perform anc3 
that  was  to  follow,  was  eminently  satisfactory.  We 
were  just  enough  fagged  to  make  rest  enjoyable, 
and  hungry  enough  to  make  the  evening  culinary 
process  most  appetizing.  Of  course  our  board- 
literally  so,  a  box  cover — was  luxuriously  spr.ad 
with  a  fry  of  trout,  the  first  banquet  of  the  fins  to 
which  we  sat,  and  that,  too,  with  stomach  enough, 
Indian  appetites  included,  to  clear  the  platters. 

While  Georo^e  was  uoins'  down  to  Ijrino^  Bissell  in 
from  his  angling  waddle  in  the  stream,  he  started  a 
deer.  When  he  afterwards  told  us  this,  Pratt 
pricked  up  his  ears,  taking  it  for  granted  that  the 
buck  was  a  straggler  or  forerunner  of  a  herd  not  far 
olf  in  the  woods,  and  his  eyes  glistened  at  the  thought 
that  if  there  was  such  game  afoot,  there  must  be 
sport  ahead.  The  mosquitoes  burdened  the  air  with 
their  songs,  but  the  oil  and  tar  with  v.liich  we  copi- 
ously anointed  ourselves  served  to  repel  them  to 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  39 

respectful  distance,  until,  at  least,  the  malodorous 
unguent  lost  its  effect,  and  then  the  slicking  was 
repeated.  On  the  whole,  in  that,  our  first  camping 
on  the  Brule,  an  eminent  sense  of  satisfaction  as  to 
the  daj  itself,  and  as  to  the  prospects  ahead,  per- 
vaded the  wliole  party. 

I  turned  in  early,  with  a  slight  headache.  My 
comrades  had  no  idea  of  prematurely  retiring  with 
too  much  trout  to  liealthily  go  to  bed  with;  and 
while  the  camp-fire  was  wasting  to  embers  and 
ashes,  they  reclined  in  the  tent,  in  the  fading  re- 
flection of  the  dying  light.  They  were  not,  then, 
the  contemplative  men  anglers  are  said  to  be.  Be- 
tween the  snatches  of  sleep,  I  heard  high  discourse 
among  them  about  Darwin,  evolution,  Swedenbor- 
gianism,  and  also  other  rambling  profundities  of 
theory  and  speculation.  When  their  jaws  wearied  at 
last  of  their  verbosity  and  of  what,  in  my  somnolence, 
appeared  incoherent  and  wind}^  twaddle,  another  per- 
turbing element  to  prevent  an  "  exposition  of  sleep  " 
coming  upon  me,  was  a  rain  which  set  in.  This 
of  itself  should  have  proved  only  a  gentle  lullaby 
to  slumber,  but,  to  tlie  common  dismay,  it  was 
found  tliat  the  tent  was  leaky,  and  the  shower  was 
dripping  through  it. 

Our  concern  was  more  for  the  provisions  than 
for  ourselves,  and  though  the  ponchos  at  hand  had 
not  been  a  success  on  the  wagon  route,  in  the  way 
of  shedding  continuous  torrents,  they  were  imper- 


40  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BEULE. 

vious  to  the  drip  of  the  leaks,  and  the  stores  already 
in  the  tent  were  covered  with  rubber  coats.  These 
protected  the  commissariat  well  enongti,  but  left  us 
exposed  to  the  drizzle.  However,  the  general  hu- 
midity and  discomfort  of  tlie  situation,  and  the 
dampness  of  "the  drapery  of  the  couch,"  did  not 
prevent  the  party  from  finally  settling  into  stillness 
again,  and  from  slumbers  that  would  have  been  re- 
freshing if  they  had  been  more  prolonged.  But  the 
mosquitoes  swarmed  early  to  their  morning  onset, 
and  brought  us  to  the  scratch  and  fretted  us  merci- 
lessly. Even  the  customary  dope  lost  some  of  its 
repelling  virtue.  The  consequence  was,  we  were 
irritated  and  unwilling  early  risers. 

For  the  breakfast,  Thebault  eclipsed  all  his  pre- 
vious culinary  successes,  in  the  way  of  fried  corn- 
meal  cakes,  in  Indian  style.  Probably  a  knack 
for  preparing  the  native  maize,  in  its  simple  and 
natural  excellence,  is  an  inherited  or  traditional 
trick  of  the  native  race,  but,  in  this  instance,  In- 
dian instinct  was  blended  with  enlightened  art  in 
forming  a  superb  farinaceous  product.  Our  salle  a 
manger  was  the  ground  under  spreading  foliage. 
We  squatted  on  blanket  bundles,  or  on  a  log,  for 
sitting  at  the  board.  The  crockery  and  china  ser- 
vice were  platters,  and  cups  of  tin,  span  new.  They 
were  better  to  us  than  pieces  of  Sevres  or  porcelain. 
Though  not  decorated  with  any  of  the  infinite 
designs  or  tracings  of  the  ceramic  art,  in  their  glis- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  41 

lening  spotless  lustre  we  could  see  our  own  broad- 
ened and  OT'innino;  faces  reflected. 

High,  thinking  the  shining  morning  calm  was  pro- 
pitious for  working  up  his  diary,  carefully  fixed  him- 
self in  the  mossy  root  of  a  tree,  opened  his  neat  mo- 
rocco-covered red-edged  note  book,  began  jotting 
down,  for  the  spouse  at  home,  the  events — a  kind  of 
pilgrim's  progress — of  the  trip.  The  arrearage  of  the 
past  days  of  our  itineracy,  the  book  so  far  being  in- 
nocent of  a  single  diarial  pencil  trace,  appeared  too 
much  for  any  reasonable  patience  and  diligence  at 
his  command.  Besides,  to  recall  and  set  down  the 
wretchedness  of  our  first  daj-s  on  the  road  in  the 
rain  and  in  the  dumps,  was,  in  a  degree,  to  renew 
and  go  through  all  those  infelicities  again.  He  pre- 
ferred not  to  live  them  over,  even  by  way  of  reminis- 
cence. He  said  he  was  disgusted  ;  that  a  diary 
was  a  plague  anyhow  ;  that  his  promise  to  his  wife 
was  neither  willing  nor  considerate  ;  that  to  keep  it 
was  not  practicable  ;  that  his  cue,  now,  was  the 
rod  and  not  the  pencil.  He  was  on  the  point 
of  declaring  an  absolute  rescission  of  the  contract 
with  his  wife.  I  ventured  to  remonstrate  with  him, 
and  rallied  him  on  the  enormity  of  his  threatened 
recreancy  to  the  obligations  of  loving  and  well  regu- 
lated husbandry.  He  said  he  would  farther  con- 
sider, and  at  least  would  pledge  to  us  all  that  he 
would  tabulate  in  his  note-book  the  figures  of  our 
fishiner. 


42  TKOUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

It  was  Sunday,  and  we  liad  the  Sunday  question 
to  deal  witli.  How  to  put  in  the  day — read,  sleep, 
lisli?  There  was  a  limited  suppl}^  of  profane  lit- 
erature in  camp,  but  not  any  sacred,  suited  to  the 
day.  No  Moses  or  Mattliew,  bnt  some  Victor  Hugo 
and  Willcie  Collins.  For  short  exercises  in  read- 
ing that  would  not  over-tax  the  mind,  I  had  Timb's 
"Century  of  Anecdote."  All  of  it  was  pretty  thin 
nutriment  and  not  at  all  sanctifying  and  but  slightly 
more  entertaining.  The  fact  was,  we  had  an  im- 
pression that  reading,  even  novel  reading,  was 
rather  out  of  order,  or  an  incongruity,  in  a  party 
the  first  postulate  of  whose  progamme  was  com- 
plete mental  rest.  The  trip  was  intended  as  a  fur- 
lough and  off-duty  to  the  collective  and  individual 
brains  of  the  Chicago  galaxy.  By  no  very  subtle 
casuistry  we  satisfied  ourselves  that  literature  was, 
therefore,  not  just  the  recreation  lor  the  day  before  us. 

High,  as  the  veteran,  experienced  in  Sabbatizing 
in  the  woods,  after  some  yawning  and  wearisome 
lounging,  equipped  himself  for  reverent  diversion 
with  the  fishes,  and  committed  himself  to  Tom  and. 
the  canoe  for  combined  meditation  and  flj^-fishing, 
up  the  silent  river.  The  example  contagiously  in- 
fected Pratt  and  myself,  and,  under  the  guidance 
of  Thebault,  our  canoe  was  sped  on  the  waters  in 
similar  quest  of  edification  and  trout.  Bissell  was 
truer  to  the  day,  to  the  traditions  of  his  Christian 
ancestry,  and  to  the  teachings  of  the  shorter  cate- 


SUMMER    WAYFARIIsG.  43 

cliisin.  lie  laid  liis  rod  on  the  slope  of  the  tent  for 
unbroken  Sunday  rest.  He  remained  in  the  camp, 
and,  on  the  plea  of  necessity,  employed  a  consider- 
able degree  of  his  thoughtful  reverence  for  the  day 
in  patching  his  breeches  and  in  overhauling  his  rig, 
and  then  further  satisfied  his  meditative  disposition 
in  a  solemn  perusal  of  one  of  Victor  Hugo's  ro- 
mances. His  sartorial  efforts  would  have  done 
credit  to  one  of  those  nine  wiseacre  tailors  of  Tooley 
street. 

We  stopped  here  and  there  at  hap-hazard  to  cast 
about  us.  We  could  get  rises  at  nearly  any  point. 
I  was  more  than  ever  satisfied  how  little  I  knew,  and 
how  much  I  had  to  learn,  of  trout  fishing,  and  that 
I  was  not  particularly  well  fitted  out  to  learn.  My 
earlier  piscatorial  experiences  and  ti'ophies  of  any 
at  all  notable  sort  with  game  fishes  were  wholly 
those  of  bass-fishing  in  Southern  Indiana.  I  had, 
without  conferring  with  any  one  who  could  have 
enlightened  me  as  to  the  best  or  the  proper  outfit, 
provided  myself  with  only  a  bass  rod,  of  perhaps 
eighteen  ounce  weight.  It  is  true,  in  choosing  it, 
1  had  an  eye  to  use  in  the  lacustral  bonanzas  of  bass 
on  and  in  reach  of  our  route  of  which  I  had  heard. 
But  even  the  taste,  already,  of  trouting  had  almost 
wholly  disenamored  me  of  bassing.  The  rod  for 
bass,  I  now  saw  was  not  the  rod  for  trout.  Mine 
had  too  little  of  the  whip,  or  of  springiness,  and 
required  a  more  muscular  arm  than  mine  to  wield 


44  TKODTING   ON    THE    BRULE. 

it  slasliingly  and  wliizzino-ly.  Just  wliat  it  was  not 
I  knew  from  Pratt's  slender  and  elastic  eight  ounce 
rod,  which  he  handled  lithely  and  lightly,  almost  as 
freely  as  if  it  were  a  lady's  riding  whip. 

We  landed  at  the  head  of  a  small  island  and  in 
the  shore  chute,  and  Pratt  happened  to  strike  a  lusty 
trout,  but  in  lifting  it,  got  his  rod  demoralized 
among  the  limbs,  and  lost  the  fish.  The  river  was 
running  comparatively  high,  with  the  swell  of  the 
late  rains.  Most  of  the  riffles  of  the  normal  stage 
were  covered  and  swollen  into  smooth,  swift  cur- 
rents. It  was  easily  canoed  with  the  pushing  poles. 
They  would  strike  bottom  anywhere  except  in  rare 
deep  holes.  The  water  was  little  roiled  even  with 
the  washes  of  the  rain ;  its  bed  was  gravelly  or  rocky. 
As  a  consequence  of  the  tumid  volume  of  the  stream, 
the  trout  seemed  dispersed  from  ordinary  pools,  and 
sea'  tered  broadcast  through  the  whole  river  at  large, 
so  that  wherever  we  chose  to  hold  up,  and  cast  from 
either  side,  we  were  almost  sure  of  striking  the 
vagrant  fish. 

While  out  in  the  afternoon  we  were  wetted  with 
the  usual  shower.  We  very  little  minded  a  sprinkle 
or  a  moderate  rain.  After  we  returned  from  our 
cruising,  Pratt  went  gunning,  a  few  paces  in  the 
woods,  and  broke  the  solemn  forest  silence  with  a 
shot  which  brought  down  a  solitary  pigeon  that 
was  stupid  enough  to  moan  its  loneliness  in  a  j^ine- 
tree  top  so  near  the  camp.     After  the  evening  re- 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  45 

past  we  loitered  around  the  fire,  some  of  us  dili- 
gently burning  tobacco  in  the  pipes  and  listening  to 
the  Indians,  who  related  to  us  their  forest  adven- 
tures, and  incidents  of  their  trapping  mink,  otter, 
martin  and  beaver,  in  these  and  other  regions.  If 
we  had  needed  more  than  the  oppressive  stillness, 
the  deep  shadows  and  heavy  foliage  which  over- 
spread us,  to  remind  us  that  we  were  in  the  wilds 
of  nature,  the  howl  of  a  wolf  which  we  heard  in  the 
distance  would  have  been  assurance  enough. 


CHAPTER    lY. 

THE  WINDFALL— EAIN  AND  TROUTTNG— BAIT-FISHING — AN 
EXPOSTULATORY  FLY-FISHER — UNDEK  THE  CEDARS  — 
A  NIGHT  SCENE  OF  THE  PICTURESQUE — LORENZO  PRATT'S 
FRIVOLITY — ADIEU  TO  WINDFALL — THE  FUTURE  CAMP — A 
LANTERN  HUNT  ORGANIZED — BISSELL  AS  A  MEDICINE- MAN. 

Though  we  bad  slept  coldly  and  brokenly,  it  was 
joyous  in  the  morning  to  greet,  with  opening  eyes, 
a  full  flush  of  sunshine  and  a  cloudless  sky,  really 
the  first  of  the  trip.  These  happy  auspices  were 
enjoyed  and  hailed  by  us  as  signs  of  weather  fair- 
ness and  bettering,  and  of  splendor  for  the  day,  at 
least,  and  we  hoped  for  many  days.  Before  leav- 
ing, the  camp  was  formally  christened  Camp  The- 
banlt,  in  honor  of  him  whose  masterly  cunning  in 
the  kitchen  department  had  won  the  good  opinion 
of  us  all. 

With  exhilaration  and  bright  as  the  glow  of  the 
morning,  we  embarked  for  up-river,  and  for  a  time 
on  the  wav,  the  beams  of  the  sun  touched  the  rip- 
(46) 


SUMMER   WAYTAEIjSTG.  47 

pies,  made  by  our  cutting  the  water,  into  dazzling 
sparkles.  But  after  all  and  after  a  while,  the  cheer- 
ing resplendence  proved  delusive  and  fleeting.  The 
day,  ere  long,  turned  out  to  be  like  one  of  April, 

"Which  now  shows  all  the  beauty  of  the  sun, 
And  by  and  by  a  cloud  takes  all  away." 

As  it  were,  a  dim  smoke,  a  shadow,  crept  up  in  the 
w.est,  and  soon  formed  into  a  cloud  which  rapidly 
advanced  and  spread.  If  not  portending  a  storm, 
it,  at  least,  boded  a  shower.  Tlie  full  capacity  of 
propelling  power  was  apj^lied  to  hurry  us  to  the 
"Windfall.  This  is  a  point  fifteen  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  where  a  tornado  had  leveled 
the  forest  at  some  not  remote  period.  "We  could, 
at  the  same  time,  dine  and  shelter  there. 

To  make  for  and  reach  the  Windfall  before  the 
rain  was  then  all  that  our  foresight  and  timely  press- 
ing speed  barely  enabled  us  to  do.  The  Menomiuees 
got  the  tent  set  almost  in  a  jiffy,  and  we  and  the 
cargo  were  no  more  than  under  cover,  when  a  most 
copious  rain  began.  On  the  way  up,  we  had  not  been 
idle  or  indifferent  as  to  trouting,  but  had  vigorously 
slashed  the  lines  on  the  water,  tarrying  briefly  by  a 
tree,  a  log,  under  riffles,  or  alongside  of  a  boulder,  or 
in  a  smooth  reach.  The  baskets  were  plentifully  re- 
plenished, and  with  choicer  spoils,  on  the  average, 
than  those  of  previous  sport.  There  had  been  other 
Brule  voyagers  here  at  some  former  season.  "We 
discovered,  in  the  bushes,  an  abandoned  birch-bark. 


•18  TKOUTIXa   ox   THE    BRULE. 

in  a  stage  of  decrej)itiicle  whicli  showed  that  its 
career  of  floating  was  ended.  A  sorry  looking 
rusted  camp  kettle,  also,  hung  on  a  brancli  near  by 
it.  Like  ourselves,  doubtless  the  navigators  of  the 
craft  had  put  in  at  so  forbidding  a  point,  under  a 
stress  of  necessity.  There  was  not  a  single  attract- 
ive feature  in  the  whole  landscape. 

We  appeased  the  customary  noon-day  hunger  on 
a  trout  dinner.  Tlie  rain  had  abated  sufficiently 
to  allow  of  frying  by  the  camp  lire.  In  a  pause 
of  the  elements,  High  sallied  out  with  his  rod,  and, 
from  a  neigliboring  log,  essayed  the  stream  a  short 
while,  and  was  successful  in  killing  a  numV^er  of 
handsome  fish.  He  quoted  an  accepted  piscatory 
authority  that  trout  will  not  rise  after  a  rain,  and  now 
claimed  that  his  replete  basket  avouched  a  different 
story  as  to  the  ready  hungering  propensity  of  Brule 
trout,  at  least.  Seeing  the  results  of  this  breeze  of 
prosperity  that  set  upon  High  even  under  the  cloud, 
all  of  us  ventured  on  an  afternoon  trouting  cruise. 
High  and  I  had  our  canoe  guided  up  stream.  I 
brought  to  the  boat  one  of  the  mammoths  of  the 
water.  George  reached  out  to  seize  it,  but  it  flojiped 
off,  and  shot  away  like  a  lightning  flash. 

We  had  wandered  some  distance  from  camp,  when 
the  remorseless  clouds  suddenly  trooped  up  again, 
from  all  quarters.  The  densest  shower  of  the  day 
burst  upon  us.  We  as  well  as  our  comrades  in  the 
other  birch,  made  for  a  group  of  towering  cedars  over- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  49 

branching  the  water,  and  laid  by  underneath.  'SVq 
harbored  there  an  liour,  patiently  waiting  the  stop 
or  slackening  of  the  down-ponr,  all  the  while,  too, 
the  percolating  drops  pelting  us  until  we  were 
"demnitioB  moist,"  There  was  no  surcease,  and 
but  little  moderating  of  the  rain,  and  after  all  our 
pains  to  escape  a  shower-bath,  v>-e  were  forced  to 
face  the  watery  music  and  run  the  elFnsive  gauntlet 
down  to  camp.  Spite  of  the  day's  adverse  condi- 
tions, though,  we  could  compute  sensations  of 
pleasure  to  an  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five,  for  the  party,  those  being  the  figures  of  joint 
capture. 

While  out  with  High,  I  tried  a  pink  fragment  of 
Pratt's  pigeon  on  my  hook.  It  proved  a  taking 
dainty  for  the  trout,  and  with  it,  I  snapped  them  up 
vigorously,  for  me,  at  least.  This  sort  of  fishing 
was  an  abomination,  and  utterly  immitigable,  to 
High.  It  was  bait-fishing,  and  baiting  for  trout, 
whether  the  bait  were  worm,  flesh,  fowl,  fish  or 
natural  insect,  or  whatever  else,  was  simply  a  gross 
and  vulgar  folly.  Fly-fishing  is  the  only  fishing 
for  him.  He  was  our  artistic  and  expert  trout 
angler.  He  had  victoriously  trouted  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  regions,  and  has  proud  memories  of 
Bear  and  Snake  river  salmon-trout.  He  is  a  learned 
pundit  and  savan  in  the  genesis  and  products  of 
artificial-fly  entomology.  His  own  fly-book  is  a 
curiosity  shop  of  the  vagaries  and  inventions  of 
4 


50  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

insect  manufacture,  a  petty  museum  of  gim-cracks 
made  of  wire,  hair,  floss,  feathers  and  tinsel,  called 
flies,  probably  because  they  have  so  little  resem- 
blance to  any  known  creatures  of  the  natural  fly 
family.  These  are  to  him  the  only  allowable  trout 
lures  and  deceits. 

Bait,  therefore,  to  High  is  a  scarcely  pardona- 
ble imi^iety,  and  nothing  less  than  piscatory  bar- 
barism. The  fellow  that  trouts  with  fish,  flesh  or 
fowl,  he  thinks,  will  never  come  to  any  good, 
and  justifies  Doctor  Johnson's  crabbed  fleer,  that 
angling  is  a  stick  and  a  string  with  a  worm  (or 
bait)  at  one  end,  and  a  fool  at  the  other.  But  for  all 
his  reprobatory  pantomime  of  features,  I  kept  my- 
self on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  trout,  and  persisted 
in  enticing  them  with  slices  of  pigeon.  He,  also, 
practices  constant  casting,  witli  the  rod-arm  in  per- 
petual see-sawing,  to  barely  tip  the  water  with  the 
fly,  and  then  give  it  a  back  over-shoulder  throw  for 
a  cast  again  from  behind;  or  sometimes  he  tickles 
the  stream  with  his  tackle,  by  skipping  it  along  the 
surface.  In  the  floo-mna;  mode  of  castins'.  I  could 
not  pretend  to  be  his  peer.  A  thought  of  rivaling 
him  in  it  would  have  been  absurd,  if  only  for  the 
reason  that  my  flexors  and  extensors  were  consti- 
tutionally unequal  to  such  practice  with  eighteen 
ounce  tackle. 

When  the  starless,  beclouded  night  came  on,  our 
group,  the   tents  and  canoes,  presented  a  striking 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  51 

scene  of  tlie  picturesque.  Our  pyre  of  pine  trunks 
was  blazing  near  our  tent;  the  other,  tlie  cooking 
fire,  being  furtlier  in  front.  The  canoes  were  on  the 
ground,  turned  up  on  edge  and  at  right  angles  with 
each  other,  forming  a  half  square  aflank  the  native's 
burning  log  heap,  to  make  a  shelter  for  their  sleep- 
ing. The  firelight  flickering  in  their  dusky  visages 
as  they  moved  and  stole  about  in  luminous  relief 
against  the  night  beyond,  with  their  ceaseless  chat- 
ter of  Menominee,  seeming  to  alienize  them  still 
more  to  our  fancies,  or  to  sound  as  mysterious 
voices  of  the  niglit,  gave  them  a  weird  or  phantom- 
like aspect,  or  made  them  seem  apparitions,  like  the 
Macbetli  witches — "  on  the  earth  but  not  of  it." 

We  had  hardly  ceased  musing  on  the  scene  of 
the  nocturnal  picturesque,  when  Pratt  surprised  us 
by  an  ill-timed  pleasantry.  The  untoward  news 
had  come  to  us  from  the  chief  of  the  scullery,  that 
the  caddy  of  lard  was  nearly  exhausted.  This  com- 
modity was  so  important  an  element  in  the  cookery 
of  the  camp,  that  a  total  deficit  thereof  was  regard- 
ed as  a  dispensation  too  serious  for  serene  contem- 
plation. As  a  matter  touching  the  food  question, 
it  was  a  vital  point,  and  we  thought  it  was  trifling 
with  the  gravity  of  the  prospect  for  Pratt  to  inflict 
upon  us  a  bit  of  heartless  jocularity  by  telling  us 
that  it  had  been  a  doubt  with  High  and  Bissell, 
whether  a  caddy  of  lard  should  be  added  to  our 
stores,  as  a  needful  supply;  but,  for  his   ])art,  he 


52  TEOUTING    ON   THE   BKULE. 

tlionght  it  "  safest  to  be  on  the  larcVs  side,"  and 
had,  therefore,  brought  the  useful  caddy  along. 
This  gri m  and  irreverent  facetiousness  only  provoked 
from  US  the  withei-ing  rebnke  of  silence  which 
promptly  subdued  him.  We  hid  ourselves  in  the 
blankets  to  sleep.  It  may  have  been  a  deserved 
retribution  that  Pratt's  wicked  joke,  possibly,  had 
perturbed  him  in  the  night,  like  a  horrid  phantom 
returning  to  plague  the  inventor,  for,  in  the  morn- 
ing he  complained  of  unwonted  insomnia. 

"We  were  prompt  enough  to  make  a  start  from 
the  "Windfall.  We  had  only  run  in  there  for  pro- 
tection against  the  rain.  It  was  a  low,  flat  ground, 
thickly  luxuriant  with  bushes  and  alders.  The  few 
trees  left  by  the  tornado  stood  out,  apart,  and  skele- 
ton-like, gaunt  and  branchless,  the  naked  trunks 
blasted  and  charred  by  fire,  which,  at  some  time,  blew 
in  ffusts  of  flame  over  what  the  breath  of  the  tern- 
pest  spared.  K"one  of  us  slept  comfortably.  The  air 
was  damp,  raw  and  chilly,  and  sleeping  in  couples, 
the  joint  exertions  of  both  the  pairs  were  unequal 
to  the  problem  of  warmth  and  comfort.  Thus  far, 
this  was  the  only  occasion  of  coolness  between  any 
of  us.  High  was  an  ex2:)erienced  Rocky  Mountain 
blanketeer,  and  knew  more  than  any  of  us  about 
sleeping  out  of  nights,  and,  also,  from  his  army 
teaching,  had  learned  what  manner  of  blanket  would 
be  needed.  His  red  and  gray  California  blankets 
were  of  a  size  and  weight  to  make  ours,  in  the  com- 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  53 

parison,  seem  mere  airy,  tliiii  apparitions  of  blankets. 
Bissell,  as  his  bed-fellow,  got  their  benefit. 

These  were  not  arctic  latitudes  bj  any  means, 
but  here,  even  in  August,  which  down  at  Chicago 
usually  burns  with  something  of  tropical  heat,  thick 
clothing,  stuffs  of  wool,  instead  of  flax  or  cotton, 
are  necessities  of  open-air  life.  The  coat  one  wears 
against  the  blast  of  a  norther  from  Lake  Michigan, 
and  the  heavy  undershirt  one  takes  to  his  bosom, 
when  the  Fahrenheit  marks  zero,  and  the  cutting 
January  air  whistles  along  the  South  Park  boule- 
vard, are  the  garments  for  all  nights,  and  :or  fre- 
quent days,  on  a  summer  voyage  on  the  Brule. 
The  hemlocks  are  always  spoliated  for  boughs,  for 
a  ground  stratum  on  which  to  spread  the  blankets. 
Their  ela-ticity  and  balsamic  breath  seem  to  be  a 
happy  contrivance  of  nature  for  the  very  purpose  of 
supplying  such  satisfying  use. 

The  further  limit  of  our  bearings  and  depart- 
ures was  a  point  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles 
up  from  the  mouth.  It  was  the  intention  to  pitch 
the  tent  there  for  the  longest  sojourn.  From 
that  point,  is  a  trail  to  a  triplet  of  small  lakes, 
separated  by  short  distances.  The  water-sheets 
are  called  Boot  Lakes.  The  first  of  them  is  noted 
as  fertile  in  bass  and  as  a  resort  for  deer.  We 
looked  forward  to  the  vicinage  of  the  lakes  of  Boot 
as  our  land  of  promise  for  venison.  The  Indians 
spoke  hojDc's  flattering  tale  to  us  of  the  p'enty  of 


54  TROUTING    ON   THE   BRDLE. 

deer  that  frequented  the  region.  Our  autochthones 
hunt  them  at  night,  and  in  the  canoe,  with  a  dark 
lantern.  While  the  birch  is  creeping  along  shore, 
they  are  concealed  behind  a  bark  shield,  with  the 
light  in  front  of  it  streaming  out  ahead.  The  ani- 
mals in  the  bushes,  or  splashing  in  the  water,  when 
cropping  the  grasses  or  watei'-lilies,  on  the  brink  or 
in  the  sloughs,  are  dazed  and  bewildered  by  the 
glare,  and  stand  still  as  if  spell-bound,  while  their 
eyes  glare  luminously  from  the  reflection,  making 
tliem  a  shining  mark  for  the  hunter,  who  is  steal- 
ing closely  on  them,  so  that  the  shooting  is  e  isy 
and  the  result  nearly  certain. 

Boot  lake  trail  was  reached  in  the  afternoon. 
In  the  usual  tarrying  by  the  way,  we  had  intervals 
of  sport  in  which  the  waters  were  flagellated  so 
prosperously  that  we  punished  more  of  the  trout 
than  we  could  use,  returning  the  useless  ones  to  the 
water.  The  appearance  of  the  camping  ground  was 
far  from  captivating.  A  little  island  fronted  it 
across  a  petty  groove  of  stream.  It  was  a  flat  sit- 
uation, and  adjacently  it  was  marshy.  A  small 
spring  oozed  out  near  at  hand,  and  a  tiny  limpid 
rill  of  coldness  flowed — enough  to  supply  our  drink- 
ing cups  with  pure  draughts.  There  was  just 
enough  dry,  sandy  surface  for  cam])  use.  There 
was  only  the  shade  of  a  ragged  tree  over  the  tent. 
But  as  our  business  was  fishing,  we  would  be  but 
little  at  the  camp,  and  when  there,  for  the  most  part 


SUMMER   WAYTABING.  55 

the  niglit  would  hide  its  uninviting  aspects  in  the 
common   obscurity. 

We  began  to  sate,  or  rather  the  appetite 
lost  much  of  its  keenness  in  the  superfluity  of 
trout,  and  our  desire  was  now  for  venison.  We 
were  on  the  tip-toe  of  expectation  for  diet  of 
deer.  Our  iirst  concern,  wlien  our  house  was  set  in 
order,  was  to  prepare  for  a  hunt  that  very  night. 
Tom  King  and  Thebault  were  to  try  their  hands  as 
deer-slayers,  and  at  six  o'clock  they  filed  out  on  tJie 
path  to  Boot  lake,  with  a  shouldered  canoe,  which, 
however  the  hunting  might  turn  out,  was  to  be  left 
at  the  lake  for  bassing  next  day,  specially  for  my 
benefit.  Bissell  had  been  seized  by  the  preposter- 
ous whim  of  taking  a  little  exercise,  and  was  not 
to  be  laughed  out  of  it,  and  went  along  merely  to 
ply  his  legs.  On  his  return  in  a  couple  of  hours, 
he  gave  us  to  understand  that  he  had  had  all  the 
gratuitous  exercise  he  wanted — quite  enough  for  all 
the  trip — and  was  a  tired  but  a  wiser  man. 

We  were  doubtful  about  the  prospering  of  the  deer 
enterprise.  As  it  cost  us  nothing,  and  the  Indians 
were  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  work,  while  we  only 
bore  the  burden  of  suspense,  we  had  encouraged  them 
to  the  attempt,  in  the  face  of  unfavorable  conditions. 
One  of  these  was  the  moon,  which  shone  through 
the  clouds.  The  other  was  the  windiness.  These 
turned  the  chances  against  success.  The  deer  scent 
keenly  when  a  breeze  is  stirring.     The  illumination 


56  TKOTTTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

pales  in  the  moonlight.  Our  men,  for  want  of  a 
lantern,  provided  a  screen  of  bark  with  a  candle  in 
a  split.  It  was  liable  to  flare  or  blow  out  in  the 
wind.  Though  by  no  means  sanguine,  we  hoped 
for  success.  Our  imaginations  pictured  deer,  and 
all  the  mouths  in  camp  watered  for  venison.  I  had 
a  headache  that  throbbed  and  throbbed  me.  Bis- . 
sell  put  his  versatile  wits  at  work  to  devise  me 
some  relief,  assuming  to  act  as  medicine-man  and 
therapeutist.  I  preferred  the  headache  to  his  pre- 
scribed remedies.  Finally,  he  prescribed  Doctor 
Sangrado's  invariable  panacea — warm  water,without 
the  blood-letting.  I  swallowed  about  a  quart  of  the 
Brule,  tepid  and  salted.  The  pickle  really  helped 
to  relieve  me  in  the  manner  predicted. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

TOO  MOONSHINY — MIXK  MARAUDERS — GOING  A-BASSING — 
BOOT  LAKE — ROUGH  TRAIL — BROILED  BASS  FOOD  FOR  MINKS 
— THE  "WHOLE  HOG  GONE — LAST  DAY  AT  UPPER  CAMP — DOE 
AND  FAWNS — RED  SQUIRRELS — LIVELY  TROUTING — RETRO- 
GRESSIVE AND  DOWNWARD— CAMP  OCCUPATION — MOSQUI- 
TOES. 

•  The  candle-bearers  returned  at  midnight.  They 
brought  in  nothing  but  themselves,  and  were  so 
tired  they  could  hardly  do  that,  Tom  King  told 
the  whole  story  of  failure  sententioiisly  when  he 
said,  "  It  too  much  moonshine,"  at  the  same  time 
glancing  spitefully  at  the  moon.  They  had  seen  a 
couple  of  deer,  but  in  truth  the  deer  had  seen  them, 
too,  and  their  velocity  of  departure  was  something 
marvelous.  But  Tom  said  we  would  have  enough 
of  deer  in  going  down  the  Menominee,  and  on  the 
strength  of  that  soothing  prediction,  we  resumed 
our  slumbers.  While  we  slept,  the  enemy  came  and 
despoiled  us  of  the  breakfast  mess.  The  pick  of  the 
(57) 


58  TROUTING   ON    THE    BRULE. 

day's  trout  had  been  dressed,  and  laid  out  over  night 
in  beautiful  array,  on  the  provision  box,  right  close 
to  the  nostrils  of  George,  where  he  must  have  been 
frightfully  snoring,  as  was  his  wont,  under  the 
canoe.  The  minks  stole  a  march  on  the  sleeping 
sentinel  at  liis  post,  and  made  a  foray  on  the  fish, 
and  portaged  the  entire  lot  to  their  holes.  This 
mishap  was  the  occasion  of  various  impromptu  ex- 
pressions of  temper  in  emphatic  vernacular  phrases, 
as  well  as  in  voluble  Indian  lingo. 

As  well  in  respect  of  other  supplies,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  lard,  we  had  miscalculated  the  relations  of 
demand  and  supply.  Our  appetitive  faculties  in- 
creased from  the  start,  so  much  at  odds  or  out  of 
tally  with  the  appetitive  supply,  that  we  were  fairly 
running  short  of  stores.  To  meet  the  contingency 
we  should  have  to  moderate  the  consumption,  reduce 
the  rations,  or  change  our  base,  and  that,  too,  speed- 
ily. There  was  already  a  potato  dearth  in  the  camp, 
and  by  some  of  the  party  the  esculent  tubers  were 
thought  as  much  a  staff  of  life  as  bread  itself.  In 
this  fact  of  scarcity  alone,  we  foresaw  an  early 
retrofirressive  move. 

The  weather  omens  were,  at  first,  unpropitious 
for  the  intended  bassing  at  Boot  lake.  The  sky  was 
sullen  with  clouds  that  threateningly  hovered,  and 
in  the  earlier  hours  we  were  dismal  indeed,  with  a 
prospect  of  a  stupid,  lagging  day  on  the  camp 
ground ;  but  we  knew  the  fickleness  of  the  elements 


SUMMER   TVATFAKTXG.  59 

here;  and,  surely  enough,  just  like  themselves,  ere 
a  great  while  the  "base,  contagious  clouds"  van- 
ished, leaving^  not  a  rack  behind.  The  Boot  lake 
business  then  came  on  the  tapis.  I  was  the  only 
volunteer  ready  to  respond.  Bissell  had  disen- 
chanted himself  of  any  more  Boot  lake,  by  his  su- 
pererogatory and  romantic  exercise  over  there  the 
last  evening,  and  to  go  again  was  like  the  task  of 
Sisyphus.  Pratt  and  High  had  no  fancy  for  bass, 
and  still  less  for  the  miserable  trail  that  led  to  them. 
Still,  they  admitted  it  was  reasonable  that  I  should 
have  a  fair  field  for  bassing,  and  that  the  expedi- 
tion should  proceed.  A  canoe  was  already  await- 
ing it  on  that  placid  water.  "Who  was  to  be  my 
companion  there  was  settled  only  by  an  impartial 
conscription  by  lot.  Bissell  drew  the  short  twig 
from  High's  disinterested  fingers,  and  was  elected. 
Pratt  and  High  sh'ly  tipped  themselves  the  wink, 
and  happily  twirled  the  longer  twigs,  the  tokens  of 
their  better  luck,  and  quietly  chuckled  at  their  es- 
cape from  trials  of  the  route  and  from  the  tamer 
sporting  for  bass  when  so  much  superb  trouting  was 
more  handy. 

The  pathway  to  the  lake  was  nearly  a  mile  of  all 
the  worst  features  of  a  forest  trail.  We  had  logs  to 
climb  over  or  leap,  bogs  and  swamps  to  flounder  in, 
hills  to  scuffle  up,  ravines  to  cross,  briars  to  scratch 
us,  and  bushes  to  switch  in  our  foces.  How  a  canoe 
could  be  made  to  furrow  its  way  through  those 


60  TROUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

woods  was  a  mystery,  but  it  had  been  done.  We 
struck  the  leg  ])art  of  the  boot-shai^ed  lake  at  a 
beaver  dam,  launching  there,  and  had  to  paddle 
through  a  little  wilderness  of  reeds,  water-lilies, 
sunken  branches  and  scattered  logs,  so  intertangled 
that  passage  was  a  matter  of  patience  and  trouble. 
Both  Thebault  and  Tom  grunted  with  the  task. 
But  once  in  full  swing  on  the  clear,  deep  water  of 
the  foot-shape  of  the  lake,  we  were  ready  for  busi- 
ness in  the  noted  haunt  of  bass.  It  is  according 
to  Gunter  to  bass  with  minnows  for  bait.  But  it 
was  impossible  to  capture  a  single  one,  and  we  were 
compelled  to  fall  back  on  pork. 

It  was  short  experience  to  find  that  the  adipose 
tissue  of  the  unclean  flesh  was  as  killing  a  bait  as  the 
minim  of  fins.  My  pinch  of  bacon  fat  had  but  just 
left  a  greasy  film  and  sunk  under  the  surface,  when 
it  was  snapped  up  and  run  away  with,  several  fathoms 
length  of  line.  I  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  and 
hauled  in  a  thumping  gretn  bass.  Bissell's  bait 
of  pork  was  appropriated  with  like  prompt  voracity, 
and  he  hitched  on  his  trout-rod  a  three-jDOunder  of 
shining  viridescence,  which  sorely  tested  the  elas- 
ticity and  strength  of  his  wand.  And  so  it  went  on. 
The  fish  so  eagerly  took  the  hook,  and  the  playing 
in  was  such  heavy,  dull  and  simply  muscular  busi- 
ness, that  it  was  more  work  than  play  to  catch  them. 
My  line  presently  took  a  freak  of  twisting  and  foul- 
ing, and  so  the  reel  clogged  and  worked  badly,  or 


SUMMER   WATFAKING.  61 

not  at  all;  but,  in  truth,  the  fun  was  too  tame  and 
unexciting  to  warrant  the  repeated  requirement  of 
time  and  patience  to  set  tlie  tackle  to  rights,  and  I 
early  and  willingly  rested  from  ray  labors.  Bissell, 
too,  soon  tired  of  a  monotony  that  he  fancied  was 
not  much  sport  and  was  a  good  deal  of  toil.  We  had 
parted  eleven  of  the  bass  from  their  native  element. 
Besides,  a  breeze  had  sprung  up  and  roughed  the 
waters  into  wavelets.  "We  were  quite  willing  to 
give  it  our  adieus  and  leave  Boot  lake  to  its  usual 
solitude.  The  canoe,  the  bass  and  ourselves  were 
in  camp  again  at  noon. 

The  sky  was  now  clear,  and  more  of  the  infinite 
azure  was  seen  than  on  anj'  of  our  daj's.  We  availed 
ourselves  of  such  an  auspicious  circumstance  to 
give  apparel  and  blankets  an  airing.  They  were 
hung  around  to  take  the  genial  sunshine  and  the 
ventilating  breeze,  but  scarcely  added  any  pictur- 
esqueness  to  the  scene.  "While  Tom  and  Thebault 
were  clinking  the  kettle  and  pan,  and  preparing  the 
bass  to  be  served  for  dinner,  Bissell  and  I  shaded 
ourselves  in  the  tent  and  scribbled;  he  was  sketch- 
ing our  trip  for  the  press,  and  read  to  me  some  of 
his  graphic  touches.  High  and  Pratt  had  been 
doing  a  forenoon  cruise,  but  as  they  never  were 
known  to  lag  superfluous  anywhere  or  far-off  when 
dinner  smelt  ready  to  their  educated  and  hankering 
nostrils,  they  were  in  on  time.  They  brought  a 
fine  mess  of  trout,  which  were  speedily  consigned 


62  TROUTING   ON    THE    BRULE. 

to  the  frying  pan,  and  then  served  on  the  board, 
and  our  appetite  being  edged  up  to  nicety  and  deli- 
cacy on  tliem,  the  grosser  coarse — fry  of  bass — was 
distastefnl,  and  after  a  few  morsels  eaten,  was  igno- 
miniously  dispensed  with,  and  the  whole  lot  of  Boot 
lake  spoil  was  chucked  into  the  bushes,  as  rubbish 
for  the  minks. 

Bissell  and  I  started  the  canoe  out  in  the  after- 
noon to  skim  some  of  the  neighboring  waters. 
The  angling  was  all  well  enough  until  my  rod  got 
in  the  way  of  disjointing  itself  in  the  cast,  the  last 
joint  and  the  tip,  with  the  line  running  from  the 
reel,  and  dropping  in  the  water.  Two  or  three  in- 
stances of  this  severance  of  the  pieces  were  tolera- 
ble, but  when  it  became  habitual,  the  mishap  was 
calculated  to  make  one  a  trifle  irritable.  The  means 
were  not  at  hand  to  remedy  the  mischief,  and  as  this 
was  a  nuisance  to  Bissell  as  well  as  vexation  to  me, 
in  a  degree  spoiling  his  sport  and  entirely  ruinous 
to  mine,  I  had  myself  pushed  back  to  camp.  He, 
with  one  of  the  boys,  started  out  again  in  further 
pursuit  of  his  mission,  and  it  proved  to  be  a  pros- 
perous one. 

High  and  Pratt  had  also  enriched  themselves  with 
much  booty  of  the  Brule.  The  day's  total  return 
was  one  hundred  and  seventy-three.  We  learned  at 
the  camp  fire  that  the  subsistence  department  was 
almost  depleted  of  pork  and  potatoes.  They  were 
prime  articles  of  consumption.     As  a  staple  in  the 


SDMMEK    WAYFAEING.  63 

woods,  no  fish,  other  flesh,  or  fowl,  can  compare  with 
the  products  of  the  indispensable  hog.  A  pound 
of  a  porker  up  on  the  Brule  is  worth  more,  for  steady 
diet,  than  some  scores  of  trout.  We  needing  the 
essential  pig,  the  question  of  longer  staying  virtually 
settled  itself.  To  retrace  our  course  was,  therefore, 
a  necessity,  but  a  much  regretted  one.  Here  our 
sport  had  been,  and  would  continue,  best  and  most 
generous. 

The  last  night  at  this  camp  was  peculiar  for  its 
splendid  moonlight  and  its  sharp  air.  All  the  cov- 
ering at  command  was  j)wt  to  service  for  our 
sleeping.  The  breakfast  trout  had  been  precau- 
tionally  placed  in  the  tent  under  common  guard, 
to  secure  them  from  the  furtive  minks,  and  fur- 
nished us  a  choice  repast  early,  while  yet  the  rose- 
ate hues  of  morning  tinged  the  east.  We  purposed 
making  a  last  full  half  day's  ranging  of  the  waters, 
and  so  to  make  the  most  of  the  time.  Hish  and 
myself,  with  Kaquotash  as  our  canoeist,  stemmed 
the  current  upwardly. 

While  rounding  a  bend,  an  exciting  view  pre- 
sented itself.  On  the  point  of  an  island,  directly 
facing  us,  and  a  fair  mark,  in  gun  range,  stood  a  doe 
and  twin  fawns.  The  sun  on  the  water  must  have 
dazzled  them,  for  tliey  were  motionless,  a  couple  of 
minutes.  This  was  my  first  sight  of  deer  on  the  trip ; 
in  fact,  it  was  the  fii-st  of  my  life,  of  wild  deer  in  the 
woods.     I  thought  I  now  knew  something  of  the 


64  TEOUTING    ON    THE    BKULE. 

buck-fever  I  had  heard  of,  and  was  realizing  some  of 
those  sui  generis  febrile  symptoms  in  the  excitement 
and  thrill  of  the  scene.  The  sight  was  a  kind  of  fas- 
cination. We  held  ourselves  motionless,  too,  from 
fear  of  breaking  the  spell.  We  could  only  gaze, 
wonder  and  admire.  Pratt's  gun  and  projectiles, 
of  course,  were  lying  in  their  cover,  in  harmless 
disservice  in  the  away-off  camp.  We  could  only 
enjoy  the  view  as  a  matchless  picture  of  grace  and 
beauty.  AU  at  once  the  doe  pricked  u])  her  ears, 
seeino;  or  scentinor  dans^er,  and  wliirled  around  her 
white  tail  on  us,  the  fawns  doing  the  same,  and  all 
stampeded  into  the  bushes.  The  tableau  vanished 
like  an  instantly  dissolving  view. 

We  scared  a  saw-bill  duck  into  fits,  from  a  nook 
of  water,  under  a  clump  of  bushes,  wliere  we  sur- 
prised it  napping,  and  heard  its  obstreperous  squawk 
and  flapping  of  the  water  far  in  the  distance.  We 
frequently  beard  pigeons  humming  their  wings. 
At  the  camp,  or  near  about,  was  a  community  of 
small  red  squirrels.  One  of  these  ruddj^  free  for- 
esters seemed  to  haunt,  or  be  partial  to  a  particular 
tree  which  he  thought  was  a  convenient  observa- 
tory of  our  camp.  He  liked  to  cock  upon  a  limb, 
wagging  his  brush,  and  keeping  his  quizzing  eyes 
in  our  direction.  He  and  myself  came  to  know 
each  other  by  sight,  and  allowed  ourselves  the  priv- 
ilege of  mutual  close  approach  and  free  parley. 
Once,  Avhen  he  presumed  too  much  on  his  short 


SUMMER   WAYFAEIXG.  65 

acquaintance,  and  impudently  chattered  at  me,  I 
flung  a  chunk  at  him  just  to  teach  liim  manners. 
The  projectile  was  a  lesson  not  exactly  to  his  taste, 
and  he  was  not  afterward  so  friendly,  and  quit 
frisking  among  the  branches  of  our  trysting  tree. 
How  much  game  there  might  be  in  the  depths  of 
the  woods,  and  what  it  is,  were  not  known  to  us, 
much  less  was  it  sought  by  us.  Stalking  the  forest 
to  hunt  would  be  a  task  of  such  difficulty  in  the 
face  of  almost  impassability,  that,  even  with  the 
stoutest  legs,  the  most  dauntless  spirit  would  re- 
coil from  it. 

The  trouting  that  morning  was  exceptionally  su- 
perb. Our  Menominee  appeared  to  have  an  instinct 
when  and  where  to  halt.  Generally  the  fish  jumped 
as  fast  as  we  could  throw,  and,  like  little  meteors,  they 
shot  and  shot  again.  Sometimes,  as  if  in  a  freak  of 
playfulness,  the  same  fish  dashed  in  and  out  in  hop, 
skip  and  jump  style.  In  one  cast  made,  the  same 
trout,  by  actual  count,  leaped  a  dozen  times  after 
the  fly,  which  was  tweaked  or  skipped  along  the 
surface  without  re-throwing.  This  one  was  a  nim- 
ble tumbler,  and  flirted  pretty  somersaults  in  chase 
of  the  tantalizing  fly  in  the  neatest  way. 

To  me,  a  novice,  much  of  the  charm  of  fly-fishing 
was  in  the  brilliant,  sometimes  comical,  leaping 
activities  and  topsy-turvy  inversions  of  the  trout. 
They  vaulted  in  all  the  forms  of  grace  and  beauty, 
and  looked  like  flashing  jets  or  spurts  of  color  from 
5 


66  TROUTIXG    ON    THE    BRULE. 

tlie  stream.  They  frisked  as  readily  at  the  touch  of 
my  fly  to  the  water  as  they  did  at  the  knack  with 
which  High  aUnred  them.  But  he  had  the  cunning 
of  the  experienced  angler  in  his  hand — that  timely 
skillful  twitcliine:  of  the  WTist  Mdiich  2:ives  the  killins: 
touch  which  marks  much  of  the  difference  between 
the  angling  verdant  and  the  veteran.  It  was  that 
deft  knack  of  wrist  that  made  any  trifling  or  non- 
sense about  his  hook  dangerous  to  the  trout,  and,  in 
the  count,  made  him  come  out  with  great  numbers 
ahead  of  me. 

On  return  to  camp,  the  traps  were  found  ready 
and  arranged  for  departure,  and  it  was  but  brief 
manipulation  to  prepare  the  trout  and  serve  them 
for  the  feast.  It  was  a  penury,  not  of  trouting  sport, 
but  of  staple  provisions  that  impelled  us  to  a  return- 
ing movement.  By  a  vigorous  parsimony  in  pork, 
and  similar  economy  in  potatoes,  in  pinching  con- 
trast to  the  careless  profuseness  of  those  substantial, 
with  which  we  had,  all  the  way,  inarched  into  the 
bowels  of  the  land,  we  had  up  to  this  very  lunch, 
eked  out  some  of  each  to  serve  our  needs.  But  now, 
the  tale  was  to\di,fuitporcus,  solanum  tuberosum 
noil  est,  the  whole  hog  w^as  gone  and  the  wholesome 
tuber  is  not! 

After  carving  on  a  memorial  tree  the  names  of 
the  party,  and  the  oflicial  returns  of  our  trouting  ex- 
ploits, we  embarked  with  something  of  sorrow,  but 
with  naught  in  anger,  from  the  cheerless  locality. 


SUMMEK    WAYFARING.  67 

The  forenoon  vagrancy  had  been  so  fertile  of  sport, 
and  so  rich  in  the  rarest  loot  of  the  stream,  in  fact, 
we  were  so  satisfied  with  trouting,  that  it-was  only  a 
very  promising  or  exceptionally  tempting  pool  or 
place,  that  could  prick  the  sides  of  our  intent  to  any 
further  piscatory  trials.  As  many  as  we  needed,  of 
the  trout  captured  on  the  way  we  stored  in  the 
baskets,  and  the  surplus  was  returned  to  the  stream 
for  piscicultural  purposes  at  any  rate.  We  passed 
the  Windfall  with  much  felicitation,  that  there  was 
no  stress  or  predicament  forcing  us  to  harbor  there 
again.  We  had  the  calm  and  glory  of  a  golden 
sunset  attending  us  when  we  rounded  in,  and  struck 
the  brink  at  Camp  Thebault  again. 

As  soon  as  we  touched  the  sliore,  with  ready  com- 
motion of  wings,  the  mosquitoes  swarmed  to  greet 
us  with  a  gory  and  raj^acious  welcome.  There  ap- 
peared an  eager  rivalry  in  each  particular  sucker  of 
our  veins  to  be  first  of  the  swarm  to  imprint  on  our 
faces  a  bloody  and  pitiless  salute.  The  benign 
extract  of  olive  and  pine  was  liberally  spread  over 
us,  until  like  an  oil  of  joy,  it  made  the  counte- 
nance to  shine.     The  process  was  repeated. 

While  Thebault  was  exercising  his  official  func- 
tions, of  the  kitchen,  Bissell  and  Pratt  had  a  mild 
attack  of  polite  literature.  The  first  gentleman  was 
giving  himself  an  insight  into  the  high  life  of  the  last 
century  through  Timb's  anecdotes.  It  was  an  open 
question  as  to  Pratt,  who  was  worrying    himself 


68  TEOUTING   ON   THE    BErLE. 

over  a  Wilkie  Collins'  novel,  and  witli  a  host  of 
mosquitoes,  at  the  same  time,  which  excited  his 
most  lively  interest  and  attention — the  plot  and 
personages  of  the  book,  or  the  bloody,  biting  fiends 
whirling  and  buzzing  on  the  wing.  High  propped 
himself  on  a  huge  pine  root,  and  in  an  exemplary 
mood  of  dutiful  regard  for  his  promise  and  his  wife, 
penciled  in  his  diary.  Of  the  firkin  that  contained 
our  butter,  possibly  oleomargerine,  I  improvised 
an  easy  chair  and  made  notes  of  the  excursional 
history.  The  reading  and  the  writing  though  were 
not  satisfactory.  The  entire  party,  with  prompt 
unanimity,  was  then,  and  at  all  times,  most  happy 
to  swap  a  feast  of  reason  for  a  feast  of  victuals.  A 
diet  of  fish  was  the  brain  nutrition  for  which  we 
waited. 


CHAPTEK    YI. 

BOILED  TROUT — ADIEU  TO  THE  BliULE — THE  MICHIGAMI 
AGAIN — SHOWER  AND  TORRENTS — BADWATER  HAMLET 
AND  king's  cabin — DEER-FENCING — OJIBBWA  LITERA- 
TURE— A  TROUT  STREAM  AND  A  TROUT's  IGNOBLE  FATE 
— BADWATER  LAKES — A  DISTANT  DEER. 

Without  pork  or  lard  the  fry  was  done  for.  The 
next  best  thing,  as  a  culinary  expedient  for  serving 
trout,  was  broiling.  We  were  now  reduced  to  this. 
We  had  a  patent  broiler,  heretofore  unused.  That 
utensil  was  now  in  demand.  But  wlien  intended  to 
be  utilized  it  was  found  ridiculously  unequal  to  the 
needs  of  the  occasion.  Broiling  on  an  extended 
scale  had  not  been  contemplated,  and  only  for  a  bit 
of  occasional  roasting  to  suit  a  momentary  whim  of 
taste,  the  device  had  been  provided.  But  it  had  only 
a  capacity  of  three  trout  at  one  toasting.  Our 
forest-sharpened  hunger  was  usually  too  keen  and 
devouring  to  wait  on  courses  of  three  fish  for  four 
men  of  robust  and  full-grown  appetite.  But 
(69) 


70  TROUTING    ON    THE    BEULE. 

Kaquotasli  luckily  knew  a  thing  or  two  about 
broiling  a  collective  mess.  He  extemporized  a 
broiler  from  a  slender  alder  branch,  and  splitting  it 
and  placing  eight  or  ten  of  the  fish  between  the 
splits,  bound  together  with  tliongs  of  bark,  he 
thrust  the  branch  in  the  ground  slanting  over  the 
coals.  Thus  a  whole  batch  of  trout  was  grilled  at 
one  and  the  same  time,  and  broiled  and  crisped 
to  a  charm.  When  we  saw  how  much  the  contri- 
vance of  Indian  wit  eclipsed  the  Yankee  patent 
invention,  we  indiunantlj  hoisted  the  wire  fraud  and 
delusion  into  the  middle  of  the  Brule. 

Bj  some  insidious  and  mysterious  means  High 
had  inveigled  Thebault  to  boil  a  few  trout  and  set 
them  before  us.  The  discovery  of  the  boiled  trout 
almost  incited  a  riot  in  the  camp.  The  folly  of  sub- 
jecting a  brook  trout  to  the  hot  and  geyser-like  bub- 
bling, 2120  Fahrenheit,  to  the  utter  washing  out  and 
annihilation  of  the  delicate  and  subtle  flavor,  and 
reducing  the  fish  to  paste,  and  leaving  it  as  insipid 
and  tasteless  as  a  boiled  rag,  was  a  culinary  blunder 
and  crime.  It  was  an  abomination  that  could  only 
find  its  match  in  some  of  the  fish  dishes  of  the  din- 
ner served  up  in  the  manner  of  the  ancients  in  "Per- 
egrine Pickle."  The  peace  was  preserved,  liowever, 
by  pitching  th'e  sickish  and  viscous  pulj)  into  the 
river,  though  High  himself  was  not  heaved  in 
with  it. 

According  to   the   custom   of  all   trouters   and 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  71 

saunterers  on  tlieBrule,  we  left  memorials  of  our 
trouting  and  presence  inscribed  in  names,  words 
and  figures,  on  a  barked  pine  tree,  to  tell  to  all  to 
whom  sucli  presents  should  come  greeting,  our  storj 
of  piscatorial  exploits.  Here  our  angling  prac- 
tically ended.  AVe  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  commit 
our  barks  to  the  downward  way,  and  take  it  easy. 
We  landed  for  the  portage  around  the  falls,  near 
the  mouth,  and  halted  at  the  camping  ground  long 
enough  to  add  there,  also,  on  a  tree,  the  statistics  of 
our  fishing,  and  to  recall  reminiscences  of  our  Alton 
friends.  The  rather  formidable  rapids  just  at  the 
camp,  now  that  we  were  iamiliar  with  the  canoe 
and  with  Indian  skill  and  mastery,  we  had  no 
hesitation  in  venturing  to  shoot,  and  enjoyed  the 
excitement  of  boundino^  down  throuo^li  the  tossinii- 

o  O  J? 

waters. 

When  our  fleet  was  embosomed  on  the  broader 
and  calmer  stream,  the  paddles  sped  it  along  smooth- 
ly and  rapidly  ahead  of  the  swift  current,  giving  to 
us  all  the  luxury  of  delicious  motion.  We  swept 
into  the  mouth  of  the  Michigami  and  rounded  to, 
at  the  point  where  the  marvelous  pickerel  was 
brought  in.  A  meagre  lunch,  the  remains  of  our 
store  of  provisions,  was  served  us  on  a  bleached  pine 
log,  stranded  there  by  some  Michigami  freshet. 
During  the  interval  there  I  threw  in  a  hook  with  a 
scrap  of  trout,  to  try  for  another  phenomenal  fish. 
But  the  call  might  as  well  have  been  for  spirits 
from  the  vasty  deep,  as  for  bass  or  pickerel. 


72  TROUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

The  Menominee  river  liei-e  really  begins,  and  the 
scenery  becomes  striking  and  picturesque.  The 
shores  are  partly  hills  and  swells  crowned  with  mag- 
nificence of  foliage,  in  summer  glory  of  luxuriance 
and  green. 

The  next  objective  point  was  Bad  water  and  Tom 
King's  cabin.  Before  we  were  far  afloat,  our  seem- 
ingly inevitable  and  pitiless  fate,  dark  clouds,  gath- 
ered behind  and  portentously  loomed  towards  us. 
The  boys  lustily  swung  the  paddles,  and  the  barks 
sprang  and  leaped  to  the  strokes,  cleaving  the  water 
like  things  of  abounding  life.  But  the  clouds,  like 
a  rushing,  bannered  host,  massed  and  marched  rap- 
idly, gaining  on  us,  and,  at  last,  the  lighter  skirmish 
van  overtaking  us,  we  were  moderately  showered, 
and,  in  moistened  plight,  we  hurried  into  the  cover 
of  the  sheltering  hospice.  We  were  fortunate  in 
making  the  refuge  of  Tom  King's  castle  of  pine  just 
in  time.  The  showering  was  a  petty  overture  only 
to  the  rain-storm  that  followed  it,  and  which,  as  if 
all  the  windows  of  heaven  had  opened  widest,  poured 
in  torrents.  The  clatter  of  the  rain  on  the  bark 
roof  was  dinning,  but  it  was  not  unpleasing  music. 

While  the  storm  was  wildly  driving,  two  drenched 
and  be-draggled  Chippewas,  living  across  the  river, 
the  most  abject  and  forlorn  looking  of  redskin 
ragamuffins,  returned  from  a  deer-fencing  enter- 
prise, and,  svith  a  vociferous  hullabaloo  signalled 
for  a  canoe  to  cross  them  over.     Fencing  is  an  In- 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  73 

dian  mode  of  deer  hunting.  A  line  of  fallen  trees 
and  branches,  making  a  rude  cheval  de  frise,  is 
laid  and  arranged  from  east  to  west,  between  two 
points,  sometimes  several  miles  apart,  at  intervals 
of  which  the  hunters  are  stationed.  At  the  season 
when  the  deer  travel  south  and  come  to  the  fence, 
instead  of  leaping  or  forcing  through  it,  they  face 
about  and  pace  alongside,  and  passing  the  hidden 
Indian  on  his  watch,  are  easily  shot  from  the 
cover.  This  kind  of  ambuscading  snjjplies  most 
of  the  winter  venison.  Such  killing  seems  more 
a  massacre  or  bntchery  than  sport. 

While  we  were  drying  our  wet  clothes,  we  took  a 
survey  of  the  cabin.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  the 
white  as  well  as  of  the  red-man  in  the  household. 
Most  of  the  furniture  was  of  the  usual  plain  sort. 
In  place  of  Axminster  carpeting  or  drngget,  there 
was  an  Indian  many-colored,  woven  grass  matting, 
laid  on  part  of  the  floor,  which  was  smooth,  glist- 
ening neat  pine.  The  bed-covers  were  a  patch-work 
of  the  brightest  and  gaudiest  colors.  Parts  of  the 
walls  were  profusely  and  jumblingly  pasted  with 
Harper,  Frank  Leslie  and  other  pictorial  prints  and 
cartoons,  a  maze  of  wood-cuts,  the  only  embellish- 
ment or  art  pretension  in  the  room. 

Tom  had  a  library  of  sacred  literature — the  New 
Testament  in  English,  which  he  could  not  read,  and 
the  New  Testament  in  Ojibbwa  (Chippewa)  which 
he  could  read,  but  apparently  did  not.     The  aborig- 


74  TROUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

inal  evangel  excited  my  curiosity.  I  took  a  sliy  at 
it,  to  see  how  the  gospels  ran  in  Cliippewa  vernacu- 
lar, and  began  the  investigation  in  comparative 
philology,  witli  the  first  verse,  first  chapter,  of. 
Matthew:  '■'■  3fesit  oo  otlan  illeh-einatiziani-MtL- 
zinaugun  au  Jesus  Christ  ifiic  dahidum  oouisum 
gaio  i7iu  AbralianumP  The  twenty-four  lettered 
word,  almost  an  alphabet,  was  too  much  for  me  as 
a  totality,  1  tried  it  in  sections  and  by  install- 
ments, with  no  better  result — it  was  a  poser  in 
orthoepy,  and  beyond  mj'  power  to  vocalize. 
Ojibbwa  may  be  a  pleasing  dialect,  but  some  of  its 
parts  of  speech  are  rather  long-drawn-out,  and  the 
syllables,  in  many  words,  run  too  far  tandem  to  be 
conveniently  rolled  as  sweet  morsels  of  speech  under 
the  tongue. 

Tom  handsomely  played  host  to  us.  He  was 
liberal  of  his  plain  civilities.  He  wanted  us  to  feel 
we  had  the  freedom  of  the  house.  His  tawny 
spouse,  in  speech,  was  nothing,  if  not  Chippewa, 
and  had  nothing  to  say  to  us,  but  performed  her 
part  in  the  etiquette  of  the  occasion  with  a  panto- 
mime of  features  quite  as  meaning  of  cordiality 
and  welcome  as  if  phrased  in  the  formulas  of 
the  best  society.  She  certainlj'^  wort  her  way  to  our 
hearts  and  stomachs  by  the  excellent  supper  set 
before  us.  The  fried  dried  venison  was  a  specially 
native  dish  that  seemed  to  have  a  flavor  and  gami- 
ness  and  wildness  racy  of  the  wigwam  and  the  for- 


SUMMER    WAYFAEIlsrG.  75 

est.  Tlie  sauce  of  raspberries,  picked  from  near-by 
buslie-,  and  the  syrup  from  the  tap  of  maples  oh 
the  hill,  were  so  choice  that  by  a  mistake  of  appro- 
priation, or  thonghtlessly,  we  quite  overstepped  the 
etiquette  which  constrains  guests  from  emptying  a 
host's  dishes,  and  not  enough  of  either  was  left  to 
serve  as  a  bare  hint  of  what  it  was. 

As  Tom  King  had  not  caught  the  parental  usage 
of  many  civilized  good  families,  of  turning  the 
children  loose  in  the  drawing-room  to  practice  their 
hilarious  infantile  diversions  and  general  boister- 
ousness  for  the  entertainment  and  admiration  of 
guests,  the  juvenile  fraction  or  fractions  of  the  house- 
hold were  secluded,  doubtless  to  temporary  exile 
and  silence  in  the  kitchen  corner.  Tom  and  his 
helpmate,  also,  themselves  occupied  that  small  apart- 
ment for  the  night.  They  assigned  to  us  the  two 
beds,  in  what  was  chamber,  dining  and  drawing- 
room,  with  their  gay  butterfly -like  overspreads. 
These  coverlets  were  light  and  as  bright  and  gay  as 
the  dream  of  a  tropical  flower-garden. 

Early  next  morning,  Tom  saddled  a  horse,  and  set 
out  for  a  trip  to  Dickey's,  to  procure  supplies  for 
our  use — possibly,  too,  for  his  own.  Our  pine  box 
pantry  told  a  beggarly  tale  of  emptiness.  He  had 
carte  Blanche  to  bring  us  such  commodities  of  sus- 
tenance as  that  limited  market  would  afford.  The 
whole  day  Avould  be  required  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  mission  of  food,  and  was  before  us  for 
disposal. 


76  TROTJTING    ON   THE    BKULE. 

Witli  a  trout  stream  onl}^  two  miles  distant,  of 
wbicli  we  had  most  favorable  hearsay,  High  was 
not  the  man  to  lazily  dawdle  away  a  good  clear 
angling  day  in  an  Indian  cabin.  The  chance  of 
sport  there  was  the  more  alluring  from  the  fact  that 
a  pale-face  angler  was  said  never  to  have  cast  a  line 
or  his  shadow  in  the  petty  stream.  High  thought, 
doubtless,  it  would  very  notably  feather  his  cap  to 
be,  of  all  civilized  fly-anglers,  the  pioneer  to  the 
mysterious  and  occult  water.  In  the  glamour  of 
his  vision  of  the  venture,  Pratt,  also,  discerned  a 
degree  and  eclat  of  novelty.  Both,  therefore,  on 
the  directions  given  by  Tom,  took  the  trail  and  the 
hazard  of  losing  it,  and  themselves,  too,  in  the 
woods. 

Bissell  and  myself  rather  preferred  enjoying  con- 
venient scenery,  and,  with  George  and  the  canoe 
set  out  on  an  excursion  to  a  panorama  of  the  scenery 
of  BadM'ater  lakes.  These  sheets  are  a  chain  of 
irregularly  shaped  lakelets  opening  one  into  an- 
other— perhaps  more  than  a  half-dozen  of  them — 
said  to  be  called  Badwater  from  the  reputed  dark 
shade  of  the  water.  ^  The  portage  to  them  is  a  half- 
mile,  over  a  steep  ridge,  and  starts  from  the  river  a 
mile  below  Tom  King's  place.  Of  course  the  ca- 
noe was  indispensable,  both  to  carry  us  on  the  river 
and  to  cruise  us  on  the  lakes.  Fishing  for  bass 
and  pickerel  was  to  be  merely  an  incident,  not  the 
purpose,  of  the  excursion,  an  exploration  of  the  lakes 


SUMMER    -WAYFARING.  77 

and  a  view  of  the  scenery  being  the  mam  intent. 

As  George  told  us  there  would  be  a  chance  to  sight 
a  deer,  Bissell  took  Pratt's  artillery  and  munitions 
of  war  for  the  benefit  of  the  contingent  deer.  It  is 
questionable  whether  the  gunner  had  a  remote  idea 
of  killing  the  hypothetical  stag,  should  one  be 
obliging  enough  to  appear,  but  the  ambition  to  try 
was  laudable  and  natural.  We  skirted,  when  afloat, 
round  about,  and  crossed  some  of  the  lakes,  when 
finally  George,  with  his  telescopic  eye,  descried  a 
deer  a  half  mile  away,  browsing  the  shore  herbage. 
After  a  series  of  observations,  Bissell  got  his  eye  on 
it,  and  was  seized  with  the  usual  buck  fever  of  the 
novice.  The  deer  was  not  disposed  to  await  closer 
familiarity,  after  its  first  windward  sniff"  of  the 
enemy,  but  forthwith  took  to  its  hoofs,  leaving  to 
the  excited  man-at  arms  but  the  poor  satisftiction 
of  no  other  than  a  very  distant  and  perfectly  harm- 
less shot. 

Our  lunching  place  was  a  beautiful,  smooth,  high 
and  shaded  knoll,  from  which  there  was  a  fine  view 
of  curving  shores  and  rich  foliage  in  every  direc- 
tion. Though  not  grand,  the  scenery  was  charm- 
ing and  lovely — a  picture  for  a  landscape  artist.  The 
fate  of  the  daily  shower  followed  us  here,  but  the 
sun  appeared  soon  enough  to  dry  us  into  comfort. 
The  lakes  are  supposed  to  abound  in  bass  and  pick- 
erel. Bissell  put  out  a  trolling  line,  and  I  used  the 
rod.     My  pork  bait  was  a  failure.     But  Bissell's 


78  TEOUTING    ON    THE    BEULE. 

spoon  was  attractive  enongli  to  allure  three  several 
bass  to  a  miserable  fate.  George,  too,  let  ont 
a  tarnished  spoon  on  a  length  of  line,  and  alter- 
nately paddled  and  fingered  the  trolling  appliance, 
and  had  the  fortune  of  capturing  a  greenish  four- 
pound  bass. 

The  fishing  was  not  an  excitino-  amusement.  The 
perfect  calm  of  the  water,  the  stillness  of  the  air, 
and  the  repose  of  the  whole  scene  were  so  eflfectivc 
that  we  yielded  to  their  drowse-like  influence,  and 
only  gently  and  languidly  glided  in  the' canoe.  A 
pair  of  loons,  mournfully  crooning,  a  duck,  the  deej", 
were  the  only  living  objects  on  or  at  these  silent 
waters.  On  the  return  way  to  the  cabin,  and  at 
some  rapids  near  Tom's,  we  disembarked,  left  the 
canoe,  and  started  to  walk  thj-ough  tlic  woods. 
Unexpectedly,  a  covey  of  partridges  >tarted  up  from 
•the  ground,  and  Bissell fired  a  ]'andom  charge  at  the 
flock,  but  it  was  a  wild  shot.  One  of  the  birds 
perched  on  a  near  limb,  and  quietly  watched  Bis- 
sell re-loading,  and  apparently  wai'ed  for  the  shot. 
George  and  I  stood  by  in  expectation  of  a  partridge 
for  the  pot.  Bissell  blazed  away,  and  made  the 
feathers  fly — away  with  the  fowl  to  parts  unknown. 

Rounding  over  the  hill  at  Tom's,  we  were  greeted 
with  a  roaring  whoop-Ia  from  High  and  Pratt,  who 
had  jnst  returned  from  the  trout  stream.  Their 
vociferation  was  meant  as  u  triumphal  shout,  as 
we  knew  presently,  when  they  told  their  story  of 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  79 

the  day.  Their  exploits  threw  ours  in  the  shade. 
The  four  bass  of  our  party,  the  deer  not  shot  and 
the  partridge  not  bagged,  were  not  to  be  glorified 
in  view  of  the  fifty-one  handsome  trout  in  their 
baskets,  taken  from  the  hidden  nooks  of  the  unfamed 
stream.  It  was  a  b'-ooklet  winding  darkly  under 
the  sliadows  of  tangled,  interlacing  forest  growths, 
and  so  obscurelj'  creeping  or  wriggling  its  way 
through  the  dense  wood  that  it  is  not  singular  that 
it  was  reported  to  have  been  ever  untouched  of  a 
white  man's  fly. 

In  this  tiny  water-run,  so  hard  to  be  reached  and 
to  be  fislicd,  and  so  unpromising  of  more  than  small 
fiw,  but  in  a  segment  of  natural  meadow,  in  and 
out  of  Avliicii  it  \¥Ound,  Pratt  was  fortuned  with  the 
most  hrilliant  piscatorial  coup  of  the  trip;  that  is,  a 
prize  trout,  more  than  a  full  pounder,  tinged  and 
s])eckled  in  the  richest  emblazonry  of  his  species. 
The  peerless  beauty  was  landed  and  unhooked,  clean 
out  in  the  meadow  grass,  but,  as  gamey  in  onr  ele- 
ment as  in  its  own,  struggled  desperately,  and  in  its 
expiring  convulsion,  ingloriously  flopped  plum]) 
into  a  muskrat  hole. 

That  a  paragon  trout  should  be  converted  to  the 
base  uses  of  a  musquash's  meal  was,  indeed,  a  start- 
ling contretemps^  and  "  if  'twere  not  to  consider  too 
curiously  to  consider  so,"  in  its  small  way,  an  in- 
stance of  the  cruel  irony  of  late,  of  a  kind  with  that 
final  ignominy  of  a  liero  dead  and  turned  to  clay 


80  TKOUTING   ON   THE    BEULE.  ' 

stopping  a  hole  to  keej)  the  wind  awaj.  Indeed, 
there  was  a  mixture  of  the  hidicrous  and  pathetic 
in  the  ignoble  fate  of  Pratt's  splendid  tront.  But 
over  the  grievous  mischance  to  the  fish  and  to  him- 
self, he  kept  a  manful  composure,  and  bore  himself 
as  one  that  could  smile  at  grief,  and  possess  his  soul 
in  patience  against  either  the  jests  or  the  calamities 
of  outrageous  fortune.  It  was  noted  by  us  all  that, 
at  the  evening  repast,  his  emotional  nature  had  not 
so  worked  on  liis  appetite  as  to  impair  his  healthy 
capacity  of  getting  away  with  his  accustomed  share 
of  trout  and  all  wholesome  viands. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

FIRST  FROST — ADIEU  TO  BADWATER — TWIN  FALLS— RED-FLY 
FISHINa— A  BUCK  AND  THE  FEVER — A  PLUNGE  BATH — 
DEXTER's  party— big  QUINISECK  palls— scenery— LIT- 
TLE QUINISECK  FALLS —KICKING  A  BUCKET— SAND  RAPID 
— A  TRAIL  — SHOOTING  THE  RAPIDS— STURGEON  FARM  AND 
STURGEON  FALLS— BOBBING  FOR  PIKE. 

Tom  Kjng  had  horticultural  pretensions;  and, 
we  had  seen,  in  his  carefully  weeded  garden,  vines 
of  water-melons  and  cucumbers,  and  other  garden 
stuffs,  in  profusion  of  healthy  flourishing.  In  the 
night,  a  rare  August  frost,  a  most  premature 
spectral  harbinger  of  winter,  strayed  from  the  far 
north,  and  nipped  and  blighted  by  its  touch  the 
whole  abundant  plant.  In  the  morning,  a  dense 
fog  overhung  the  river  and  obscured  the  sun,  but 
ere  long  the  warm  radiance  dispelled  the  cloud  of 
mist  as  if  it  were  snow  melted  away  magically.  It 
was  then  an  unclouded  heaven  and  a  dazzling  sunny 
day,  and  these  were  hailed  by  us  as  signs  of  ended 
6  (81) 


82  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

rains,  lowering  clouds  and  cliilling  moisture,  and  as 
propitious  of  tlie  favoring  skies  and  prospering 
airs  wliicli  would  make  the  Menominee  voyage  a 
prolonged  felicity  and  exhilaration.  AYe  had  an- 
ticipated the  descent  of  the  river  as  the  crowning 
delight  of  the  trip. 

The  squaw  of  the  cabin  breakfasted  lis  before 
starting.  The  trout  of  the  meadow  and  wood,  from 
their  being  the  captives  of  a  hap-hazard  venture  and 
surprise,  and  possibly  because  they  were  positively 
the  last  of  the  season  to  us,  were  sjiecially  i-elished. 
After  the  customary  smokino-  and  the  loadinof  of  the 

•JO  o 

baggage,  and  after  Tom  had  got  an  extended  fur- 
lough, for  a  day  or  two  longer  with  us,  from  his 
better  half,  as  neither  he  nor  we  w^ere  desirous  of 
parting  then,  we  launched  away  about  nine  o'clock. 
The  river  was  unrippled,  excepting  at  rapids;  and 
just  below  tliose  nearest  the  cabin,  the  other  canoe 
was  hauled  from  the  dockage  of  leaves  in  which  it 
was  left  the  day  previous,  and  the  crews  and  the 
traps  were  divided  between  the  two  birches. 

We  had  by  this  time  familiai'ized  ourselves  with 
the  peculiarities  and  caprices  of  the  birch-bark,  and 
felt  at  home  and  at  ease  in  it,  so  that  it  was  no 
longer  a  precarious  or  ticklish  navigation  to  us.  We 
knew  now  how  to  shift  positions,  how  to  stretch 
out  or  to  stand  erect,  and  had  mastered  the  niceties 
of  balancing  ourselves  and  the  canoe.  For  its  ease, 
grace,  lightiiesSj  quickness  and  docility  of  motion. 


SUMMER    WAYFAKIXG.  S3 

the  Ijircli-bark  canoe  is  peerless  and  superb  among 
water-craft;  and  the  Menominee  we  expected  to 
find  precisely  the  stream  for  canoe  navigation,  in 
its  most  favorable  conditions. 

The  Twin  Falls  are  three  miles  aj^art.  Wliile 
the  Indians  were  transferring  the  canoes  and  their 
burden  around  the  upper  falls,  we  scrambled  to  the 
foot,  and  High  ventured  a  cast  of  a  brilliant  red  fly 
in  the  whirl,  though  it  was  quite  improbable  that  a 
pike  or  a  bass  would  be  enticed  by  such  a  flaring 
gawd.  jSTevertheless,  though  all  chances  were 
against  him,  he  whipped  the  water  with  the  fly  just 
the  same,  thinking  if  he  did  not  win,  he  would  at 
least  deserve  success.  He  saved  his  fly  and  restored 
the  fictitious  insect  to  the  company  of  its  fellow 
entomological  gewgaws,  in  his  fly-book,  in  its  per- 
fect integrity,  for  future  use. 

In  the  eddy  of  the  lower  fall,  I  thought  the  water 
looked  as  if  it  should  be  a  lair  of  fish,  and  that  a 
pickerel  might  be  captured  by  one  not  too  fastid- 
ious to  try  a  killing  bait.  I  rigged  my  tackle, 
and  experimented  with  a  scrap  of  pork  on  the  hook, 
but  the  swine's  flesh  decoyed  no  perch,  bass  or  pick- 
erel, that  I  could  grapple  with  hook  of  steel.  Not 
even  one  of  the  abounding  pitiful  chubs  was  hungry 
enough  to  offer  it  a  nibble.  I  was  not  long  in  satis- 
fying myself  that  fishing  in  that  pool  was  not  my 
vocation.  After  pushing  out  and  getting  fairly  un- 
der  way,  George   saw   a   couple  of  deer  grazing 


84  TKOUTIXG    ON   THE   BKTILE. 

\vater  herbage  afar  off.  It  was  only  a  momentary 
vision.     They  vanished. 

Soon  again  we  had  another  sensation  of  deer — 
a  splendid  buck  feeding  in  the  bushes.  The  boys 
slyly  stole  the  canoes  thereaway.  Pratt's  ardor  was 
enkindled;  he  shouldered  arms,  and  held  at  the 
ready;  the  buck  lifted  his  spreading  antlers,  and 
then  dropped  his  nose  to  the  grass  again.  George 
was  stealthily  paddling  the  canoe,  with  a  fair  show 
of  stealing  unawares,  within  shooting  range.  We 
were  expecting  great  things  of  Pratt,  but  owing, 
probably,  to  a  fluster  of  buck-fever,  he  pulled  an 
ill-timed  trigger,  and  though  the  deer  was  not 
harmed,  the  water  was  badly  torn  up  about  mid- 
way between  the  buck's  pasturing  place  and  our- 
selves. The  deer  bounded  and  ricocheted  into  the 
forest,  where  the  woodbine  twines.  Pratt  admit- 
ted that  his  premature  firing  was  a  mistake,  worse 
even  than  would  be  that  of  shooting  at  a  pigeon 
and  killing  a  crow;  but  as  the  deer  was  just  going 
to  spring,  he  had  to  spring  the  trigger  then,  or  lose 
the  shot. 

The  next  event,  furtlier  down,  was  a  frolic  of 
immersion.  We  had  turned  ashore  to  lunch,  and 
after  dealing  full  justice  to  the  spread,  Bissell  and 
Pratt  were  impetuously  seized  with  a  mania  for  a 
swim  in  the  Menominee.  The  performance  was 
marvelously  brisk  and  brief.  They  plunged  in  the 
crystal  tide  with  a  slap-dash  precipitance,  but   the 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  85 

reduction  of  their  temperature  from  the  frigid  in- 
clemency of  the  stream  was  so  instantaneous  and 
the  effect  was  so  glacial  that  with  "chattering  teeth 
and  bristling  hair  upriglit,"  they  rebounded,  and 
plunged  out,  with  surprising  agility,  Bissell  rather  in 
the  lead. 

Two  miles  further  on,  was  the  head  of  the  portage 
around  Big  Quiniseck  Falls.  It  was  the  scene  of  a 
surprise  party.  At  about  the  same  moment  Wirt 
Dexter's  party  and  our  own  reached  the  spot. 
With  him,  were  Jesse  Spaulding,  of  Chicago,  and  a 
Mr.  Smith,  a  Bostonian  lawyer,  en  route  to  the 
Brule.  Their  suite  and  outfit  were  complete. 
They  had  four  Indians  of  the  Chippewa  order  of 
redmen,  but  they  were  lean,  stunted-looking  weak- 
lings and  manikins,  aside  of  our  brawny  and  robust 
aborigines;  also,  a  weazened,  shrivelled  little 
mulatto  cook,  who  seemed  a  scullion  apart,  with  no 
affinity  for  his  fellows  of  the  retinue,  who,  in  their 
turn,  seemed  to  look  tomahawks  at  the  kitchen 
satellite,  and  as  if  they  would  like  to  strip  his 
scalp  in  the  first  convenient  bushes.  The  cargo  was 
immense.  Tents,  cots,  hair  mattresses,  stools, 
cases,  barrels,  kegs,  crockery,  valises,  gun-cases, 
as  if  for  a  whole  season's  campaign.  Pratt  thought 
their  equipage  for  roughing  it  was  hardly  complete 
without  a  piano  and  brussels  carjDet.  But  he  is 
rather  peculiar  and  high-toned,  and  we  did  not 
accord  with  him  in  that  hypothesis.     The  couple  of 


86  TROUTING    ON    THE    BKULE. 

hours  spent  tliere,  while  botli  retinues  were  making 
portages  of  the  loads,  were  a  delightful  episode  in 
our  forest  adventure.  Our  converse  was  mainly  on 
matters  of  the  woods.  Dexter  has  been  a  forest 
ranging Michigander,  as  apt  in  handling  a  trout-rod 
or  rifle  in  his  vacations,  as  he  is  in  practice  with 
the  mysteries  of  Coke  and  Chitty  in  term  time. 
There  is  not  much  about  game  of  his  native  State, 
that  which  swims,  goes  on  foot  or  sweeps  on  the 
wing,  with  which  he  is  not  familiar.  His  reminis- 
cences of  hunting  and  fishing,  flavored  as  they  were 
with  the  fragrance  of  Partagas,  greatly  entertained 
us. 

This  portage  was  a  little  more  than  two  miles  in 
length.  It  was  over  a  rolling,  hillocky  surface,  and 
though  the  path  was  not  so  barricaded  with  trunks 
of  trees  to  be  climbed  over  as  most  of  the  carries,  it 
was  yet  tedious  and  wearisome.  But  at  the  foot  of 
the  declivity, where  the  trail  ends,  a  large  rock  towers 
thirty  feet  above  the  water  at  its  base.  From  this 
peak  of  rock,  a  splendid  view  bursts  upon  the  sight, 
in  an  outlook  of  magnificent  scenery.  Ofi",  at  the 
right,  the  river  avalanches  down  a  steep  incline, 
and  pitches  tumultuously  far,  and  rolls  into  waves, 
with  clouds  of  spray,  "showering  wide  sleet  of 
diamond  drift  and  pearly  hail."  The  water  spreads 
and  rounds  out  into  a  cii'cular  bay  or  basin  of  nearly 
a  half  mile  diameter,  and  this  is  partially  girded 
round  withcliifs  wooded  with  heaviest  pageantry  of 


SUMMER    WAYFAEING.  b< 

forest  pines  and  cedars,  except  at  the  further  side, 
where  the  river  contracts  and  glides  away  in  a 
smooth  flow  or  stretch  between  level  shores  and  the 
richest  of  verdure. 

The  scene,  resplendent  in  the  setting  sun,  was 
enchanting  and  worthy  of  some  master  to  commem- 
orate. It  was  the  spontaneous  resolve  of  all  the 
part}',  that  the  tent  should  be  pitched  on  the  rock, 
in  view  of  scenery  so  picturesque  and  striking; 
and  there,  from  the  summit  of  the  rock,  and  in  the 
last  rays  of  the  sun  fading  and  in  the  twilight  glim- 
mering on,  we  quietly  enjoyed  the  situation  with 
wonder  and  delight.  "We  were  among  the  splen- 
dors of  primeval  nature. 

When  the  moonshine  softened  the  landscape, 
and  portions  of  it  M^ere  deepened  into  shadow,  we 
had  time  to  realize  how  cool  our  elevated  position 
was.  The  blankets  were  not  quite  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion, when  we  retired  from  the  expiring  camp-fire 
and  betook  ourselves  to  the  sleeping  ground-spread. 
After  their  camp  duties  had  been  performed,  and 
tired,  as  they  must  have  been,  from  the  two  port- 
ages required  for  the  transfer  of  canoes  and  luggage, 
Tom  and  Thebault  had  launched  and  paddled 
away  in  a  canoe  for  a  night-hunt  of  deer.  Tliey 
skimmed  along  in  the  shadows  of  the  woods,  creep- 
ing softly  among  the  reeds,  and  though  they  heard 
and  saw  that  the  deer  were  afoot,  the  moonlight 
was  too  bright  to  admit  of  successful  ambuscadinor. 


bo  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

We  rose  early  and  willingly  to  renew  our  enjoy- 
ment of  the  charms  of  the  scenery.  There  was  no 
satiety  in  the  outlook  around  and  beyond.  When 
taking  the  canoes  for  the  start,  we  paddled  to  tiie 
centre  of  the  basin,  and  held  up  for  a  view  from 
that  point.  Though  not  so  grand  as  from  the  pin- 
nacle, the  scene  was  yet  lovely.  We  receded  from 
it  with  lingering  glances.  Doubtless,  when  means 
of  access  are  opened  to  it.  Big  Qiiiniseck  Falls  will 
become  a  resort  of  many  who  make  summer  pil- 
grimages in  search  of  healtli,  rest  and  river  and  for- 
est sporting.  The  stretch  below  the  falls  would 
be  admirable  for  regattas  and  boating. 

Three  or  four  miles  down  w^as  the  base  of  the 
elevation  from  which,  on  our  way  up,  we  had  our 
first  river  perspective.  The  Dexter  party  had 
camped  there,  and  its  Indians  gave  our  Indians  in- 
formation that  raspberries  were  to  be  found  there. 
We  went  ashore  to  devastate  the  supposed  raspberry 
bushes.  But  neither  that  berry  nor  its  bush  was 
discoverable  on  a  pretty  thorough  exploration. 
The  ascent  up  the  steep  path  of  sand  to  the  plateau 
was  compensated  for  in  another  view  of  the  land- 
scape, there  being  on  this  river  but  very  rarely  high- 
browed  hills,  from  which  a  commanding  prospect 
may  be  had.  In  consonance  with  the  loneliness, 
almost  desolation,  of  the  place,  a  raven  croaked 
hoarsely  its  ill-omened  notes  from  a  dead  tree-top. 
On  the  edge  of  the  stream  a  bunch  of  deep  crimson 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  89 

leaves  liimg  from  their  stem,  quivering  gently  in 
the  breeze,  and  reflected  in  the  water  like  a  burst 
of  brilliant  wavering  flame. 

While  rounding  in  for  the  head,  or  trail  at  the 
head  of  Little  Quiniseck  Falls,  Pratt  fluttered 
again  on  espying  a  deer  within  easy  range.  The 
gun  was  out  of  harm's  way,  under  some  baggage 
and  safely  encased  in  its  cover,  tied  up  with  knots 
of  which  at  first  he  forgot  the  combination.  Pres- 
ently, though,  the  piece  was  uncovered,  and  then 
rummaging  his  pockets  for  caps,  he,  in  his  leisurely 
haste,  managed  to  kick  against  a  tin  pail  at  his  feet. 
This  clatter  of  the  tin  struck  an  alarum  at  least 
half  a  mile  all  around,  and,  of  course,  the  fright- 
ened browser  leaped  and  cleared  from  sight  and  shot. 
Pratt  lost  the  deer,  but  he  gained  a  valuable  ex- 
perience, which  satisfied  him  that  hunting  with  the 
gun  covered  and  uncapped,  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  under  a  stratum  of  traps,  was  not  promising 
of  great  spoil  of  deer  or  other  game. 

While  the  portaging  was  being  attended  to,  we 
descended  the  rocks  on  the  lower  side  and  clambered 
along  the  ledges  to  see  the  cascade.  Its  noise  ap- 
prised us  that  there  was  more  than  a  little  confu- 
sion of  the  ^vaters.  On  the  brink  a  large  mass  of 
rock  parted  the  stream,  and  the  water  plunged  in 
separate  headlong  cataracts  of  snowy  white.  Tliese 
volumes  rebound  from  the  fall,  as  it  were,  spout  up 
in  columns  or  jets  and,  falling,  mingled  together 


90  TEOUTING    OX    THE    BEULE. 

jind  rolled  away  in  billows,  with  a  mist  of  spray 

and  the  sun 

"  Caught  the  sparkles,  and  in  circles. 
Purple  gauzes,  go'. den  h.iz3j,  liquid  mazes, 
Flung  the  torrent  rainbow  round.'' 

These  are  grander  cascades  than  that  of  Big 
Quiniseck,  but  the  surrounding  scenery,  though 
wild,  is  not  so  grand. 

After  embarkino:  and  makine;  a  mile  further,  in 
the  field  of  his  vision,  but  far  off,  George  discovered 
a  couple  more  deer  dabbling  their  noses  in  the 
water.  But  being  as  far-sighted  as  Kaquotash,  they 
left  no  time  for  any  strategy  being  practiced  on  them. 

The  next  noted  stage  of  the  voj^age  was  the  Sand 
Rapid.  This  is  the  Scjdla  and  Charybdis  ordeal  of 
the  river,  on  account  of  its  danger  and  length.  The 
rapids  area  curving  sweep  of  three  miles,  and  test 
all  the  skill,  courage  and  muscle  of  tlie  most  ex- 
perienced canoeist.  The  canoes  cauld  be  taken 
through  with  the  loads,  but  not  witli  ourselves 
weio:htino^  them.  There  is  a  trail  of  two  miles 
nearly,  across  to  the  foot  of  the  Rapid.  Before  the 
descent  of  Sand  Rapid  begfns  there  are  short  rapids 
around  which  a  portage  must  be  made.  By  our 
trailing  over  the  short-cut,  and  by  gaining  so  much 
start  while  the  short  carry  was  being  made,  we 
could  reach  the  end  of  the  Rapid  considerably  before 
the  canoes  would  make  the  run  throuo-h. 

Thebeginning^f  the  trail  was  on  a  long  ascent 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  91 

of  a  hill,  and  toward  the  end  was  a  corresponding 
declivitVj  and  then  the  course  on  the  level  was 
through  marshes  where  it  became  obscure  or  lost  in 
the  grasses  and  brush.  We  groped  our  way  out  of 
the  troublesome  maze,  and  touched  the  river  at  the 
foot  of  the  Rapid.  It  was  a  grassy  bank,  high  and 
dry,  and  finely  shaded  by  over-arching  branches  of 
splendid  trees.  We  were  to  witness  the  shooting 
of  rapids  under  the  most  exciting  conditions,  and, 
from  that  point,  a  mile  of  the  agitated  water  could 
be  seen.     We  waited  for  the  canoes  to  come  in  sight. 

In  tlie  meantime,  Pratt  and  Bissell  prospected 
among  the  bushes.  High  was  resting  against  a 
colossal  pine,  on  the  shady  side,  confidentially  giving 
himself  away  to  his  diary.  I  stretched  on  the  grass, 
looking  up  to  the  dense  evergreens  overhead,  grate- 
fully thinking  benedictions  on  Wirt  Dexter,  for  the 
rare  cigar  whose  luscious  odors  of  Cuba  were  then 
mingling  with  the  abounding  forest  perfumes  of 
Michigan.  All  the  while,  the  turmoiled  rapids 
sounded  their  ceaseless  lulling  monotone  of  liquid 
music. 

Soon  Bissell  roared  out  the  whoop-la  signal.  We 
were  instantly  up,  and  on  tip-toe  for  the  scene. 
Away  at  the  further  end  of  the  perspective,  the 
canoes  bounded  into  sight,  George  and  Thebault 
manned  the  larger,  and  Tom,  alone,  swayed  his  old 
familiar  smaller  one.  The  birches  seemed  things 
of  life  that   leaped  and  came  pitching  ahead,  the 


92  TBOUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

Indians  swinging  tlie  paddle  from  side  to  side  or  ply- 
ing the  setting  poles  as  needful  to  slieer  oif  from  a 
rock,  or  to  hold  them  from  rushing  into  a  breaker,  or 
to  turn  them  into  the  winding  chutes,  and  keep  them 
always  steady  and  trim  from  dipping  or  shipping 
water. 

Alone,  erect,  in  the  middle  of  his  canoe,  his  hat 
off  and  his  dark  hair  streaminof,  handlino;  the 
paddle,  at  times  dropping  it  and  snatching  the  set- 
ting pole,  with  the  celerity  of  thought,  holding  her 
to  his  will,  running  her  in  the  swift  descent  where 
he  would,  steady  through  a  waste  of  seething  perils, 
long  reaching,  but  most  swiftly  shot  through, 
when  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  right  course 
would  dash  the  frail  structure  to  pieces  or  swamp 
her  instantly,  Tom  was  a  marvel  of  handling, 
nerve  and'  skill. 

We  watched  them  breathlessly,  through  the  long 
stretching  ordeal,  seeming  though,  in  the  swift- 
ness of  advance,  but  a  few  moments  of  passage. 
When  they  safely  ran  in  the  barks  to  shore,  M'ith  as 
masterly  a  control  as  that  of  a  trained  jockey  reining 
in  and  bringing  to  bay  his  fiery-mettled  horse,  our 
admiration  was  boundless,  and  we  greeted  the  dar- 
ino;  and  successful  runners  of  the  water  with  the 
loudest  of  huzzas. 

The  next  stoppage  was  at  Sturgeon  farm,  at  Stur- 
geon river.  That  stream  is  the  route  to  Hamilton 
lake.     It  is  in  a  region  noted  as  a  stamping  ground 


SUMMER  WATEARING.  93 

for  deer.  For  several  years  Chicago  parties  have 
encamped  there,  and  found  food  for  powder  among 
the  '•  poor  dappled  fools  of  the  forest,"  and  enjoyed 
the  abounding  sport,  until  ammunition  was  all  shot 
away,  or  they  wearied  of  the  excess  and  gore  of 
deer.  The  hunting  places  seemed  to  have  been  re- 
garded as  a  sort  of  private  and  exclusive  rifle  range 
or  game  preserve  for  their  own  special  sport.  Lake 
Hamilton  is,  practically,  to  the  general  public,  nearly 
as  little  known  as  the  Yictoria  jSTyanza  of  Central 
Africa. 

Our  supplies,  procured  from  Dickey's,  had  been 
limited,  and  we  found  it  prudent  to  meet  the  con- 
tingency of  short  commons,  or  of  possible  delays  in 
the  voyage,  to  increase  them.  So,  at  the  farm,  we 
had  negotiations  with  the  supply  department.  From 
its  abundant  store  we  laid  in  plenteous  tea,  pork, 
syrup,  flour,  potatoes,  butter  and  tobacco. 

To  a  forest  menu  to  which  these  would  contribute, 
there  was  one  delicacy  needed  to  make  it  sumptu- 
ous. Our  teeth  were  by  this  time  set  on  edge  for 
that  dainty  fare  by  frequent  previous  cervine  eva- 
nescences. We  had  seen  that  game  near  and  afar; 
had  shot  at  it  hopefully  within  one  range  and  hope- 
lessly at  another  distance,  and,  sometimes,  had  not 
shot  at  all,  but  always  the  deer  played  us  the  slip. 
These  escapes,  so  nearly  fruitions,  served  to  tease 
and  tantalize  appetite  to  importunate  longing.  We 
were  pledged  antlers  and  haunches,  if  we  could  pro- 


94  TKOUTING    OX    THE    BRULE. 

vide  a  dark  lantern  for  a  night  hunt.  This  require- 
ment we  were  fortunate  in  supplying  at  Sturgeon 
farm.  We  borrowed  a  lantern  well  approved  for 
the  j^urpose. 

Making  a  portage  around,  the  tents  were  pitched 
just  below  Sturgeon  Falls,  in  the  last  "glow  of  sun- 
set on  the  water.  There  is  Indian  hearsay  that 
pike  abound  in  the  basin  here.  As  that  fish  is  pe- 
culiarly voracious,  it  was  thought  there  was  a  prob 
able  field  for  lively  amusement  in  the  twilight. 
High  encouraged  a  trial,  and  captured  a  colossal 
grasshopper,  for  which  it  is  known  the  pike  has  a 
special  greed;  and  the  fine  one  now  his  prisoner 
was,  certainly,  a  most  lusty  and  tempting  specimen 
of  that  skipping  family.  I  impaled  it  on  my 
hook.  I  felt  sure  of  one  pike  at  least.  It  was  a 
hard  scuffle  to  reach  a  certain  throwing  point — a 
narrow  ledge  on  a  scarp  of  rock — and  there  was  a 
preliminary  tribulation  of  undergrowth  and  briars 
to  be  gone  through;  but  I  worked  away  to  the 
perch.  I  wagered  with  myself  large  imaginary 
stakes  that  I  would  take  a  notable  pike,  and  rather 
expected  my  comrades  were  waiting  to  applaud  the 
feat  to  the  echo. 

There  was  no  reason  why  pike  were  not  numer- 
ous there,  and  why  they  should  not  suffer  themselves 
to  be  caught.  In  that  trust,  I  plunged  in  the 
enticing  grasshopper.  But  the  fish  were  too  unac- 
countably wary  and  shy  to  make  a  rush  for  the  hook. 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  95 

I  placed  and  replaced  the  bait  in  every  direction.  The 
reputed  voracity  showed  no  sign.  I  began  to  doubt 
whether  ravenousness  was  indeed  a  vice  of  the 
species.  At  any  rate,  the  myth  of  grasshopper 
killingness  was  now  exploded.  "VYould  a  shred  of 
pork  rally  the  clan?  A  fragment  of  Sturgeon  farm 
bacon  was  tried.  But,  if  that  had  been  tainted 
with  trichina  spiralis,  it  could  not  have  been  more 
cautiously  shunned.  The  nutritious  grasshopper 
and  the  unctuous  pork  proved  equally  fallacious. 

I  was  at  my  wits  end,  and  further,  was  convinced 
that  even  the  existence  there  of  pike  was  a  hallu- 
cination, and  thought  in  future  I  would  treat  all  In- 
dian tradition  with  contempt.  Feeling  myself  a 
victim  of  misplaced  confidence,  I  swore  off  from 
even  the  bare  imagination  of  pike  forever,  scram- 
bled perilously  from  off  the  rock,  and  scathingly 
through  the  briar  hedge  and  alder  thicket,  back  to 
the  camp. 

How  mercilessly  I  might  have  been  bantered  and 
twitted  on  my  egregious  water-haul,  I  was  luckily 
unaware,  from  the  fact  that,  just  then,  attention 
was  diverted  in  another  direction.  Across  the 
basin,  in  the  chiar-oscuro  of  the  deepening  twilight, 
was  a  figure  of  a  deer  shadowly  outlined.  George 
slipped  a  canoe  silently  across,  to  try  a  shot,  and 
everybody  held  his  peace  and  watched  for  the  result. 
But  noiselessly  though  the  birch-bark  thitherward 
stole  its  course,  the  deer  was  too  vigilant  to  be  sur- 
prised, and  it  vanished  into  the  evening  shades. 


CHAPTER    yill. 

NIGHT  HUNT — VENISON — SPLENDID  ANTLERS — TOM  KING's 
PARTING— A  LOOK  FOR  A  DEER — A  PAWN  SLAIN — COM- 
PUNCTION—  PEEMBINWUN  RAPIDS  AND  RUNNING  THEM — 
A  MARCH  STOLEN- -BISSELL's  BUCK-HORNS — HOME  LONCiING 
— WHITE  RAPIDS — ANOTHER  PARTING — A  BROOKLET  TROUT- 
ED  IN — PIKE  RIVER — INDIAN  MAIDEN — WAUSAUKA 
BEND — high's  devoirs  TO  THE  GENTLE  SEX — MOSQUITOES. 

The  Indians  intended  doing  their  part  towards 
verifying  the  promise  of  deer.  They  organized  a 
lantern  hunt,  and  expected,  before  the  moon  arose, 
or  was  high,  to  accomplish  the  mission.  They 
trimmed  the  wick,  rubbed  up  the  gun,  fresh  loaded 
and  capped  it,  and  parleyed  briej&y  but  earnestly,  in 
their  native  tongue,  and  in  their  air  and  actions 
evinced  a  serious  purpose  of  business.  They  now 
had  the  lantern,  whose  use  they  had  declared  was 
an  ahnost  certain  gage  of  success,  and  their  own 
credit  was  pledged,  from  the  start  down  the  river, 
to  diet  us  with  venison  on  the  trip.  They  now 
(96) 


SUMMER   WATTAEING.  97 

meant  to  make  good  their  promise,  and  assured  us 
that  from  deer  resorts  in  the  vicinage,  thej  would 
return  to  the  camp  witli  at  least  one  carcass. 

George,  with  the  gun  and  lantern,  and  Thebault, 
with  the  paddle,  slipped  the  canoe  quietly  down 
the  river  in  the  dark.  Tom  King  crept  under  the 
other  upturned  canoe  in  front  of  the  fire,  and  curled 
up  for  slumber,  and  quickly  slipped  into  happy  hunt- 
ing grounds  in  the  realm  of  sleep  and  dreams.  We 
prated  and  speculated  on  the  results.  The  query 
whether  Diogenes,  on  his  lantern  hunt,  ever  found 
his  man,  which  sometimes  used  to  be  a  school-boy 
quiz,  was  never  a  quirk  or  conceit  as  interesting  and 
speculative  to  men  of  our  stomach,  as  was  now  the 
conundrum  whether  Kaquotash's  lantern  would 
prove  a  means  of  success. 

A  deer  was  the  necessary  complement  of  our 
wants.  It  omitted,  all  the  voyage,  thence  to  the 
end,  would  be  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries. 
Before  we  were  asleep  the  report  of  the  gun  in  the 
distance  told  us  a  hopeful  tale.  Another  shot  fol- 
lowed in  a  brief  interval.  We  were  content,  then, 
to  wrap  our  blanket  covering  around  us  and  lie  down 
for  the  night,  with  our  last  waking  thoughts  of 
venison,  and  with  assurance  of  a  morning  reality 
of  deer. 

At  sunrise,  while  the  shadows  of  sleep  were  yet 
on  us,  the  boys  rounded  in  the  canoe,  and  roused  us 
with  a  cheering  loud  whoop-la.  We  quickly  opened 
7 


98  TEOUTING    ON    THE    BRULE. 

our  eyes,  lurned  out,  and  hailed  the  natives  with 
acclamations,  as  we  saw  the  carcass  of  a  fat-haunched 
doe  stretched  on  the  grass.  The  stripping  of  the 
hide,  and  the  dissection  necessary  for  packing  away 
and  for  the  present  cooking  fire,  were  processes  that 
nimble  fingers  and  a  keen  knife  soon  accomplislied. 
The  breakfast  was  a  princely  banquet  to  us. 

While  Thebault  was  cleaning  the  platters,  all  at 
once  he  signaled  us  with  a  finger  pointing  across 
the  basin.  There,  in  plain  view,  was  a  magnificent 
buck,  with  lordly  horns,  pasturing  in  the  grass, 
raising  his  head  gracefully  to  look  around,  and 
dropping  it  again  to  the  herbage.  The  sight  was 
one  to  move  even  an  old  hunter's  blood.  Tom  and 
George  instantly  launched  and  stepped  in  a  canoe, 
crouched  down  and  noiselessly  sped  it  to  and  behind 
a  petty  wooded  island  which,  was  enough  a  cover 
to  mask  their  movement.  Tom  landed,  and,  cat-like, 
crept  stealthily  to  a  good  position,  and  within  easy 
shooting  distance,  where  the  "  fat  burgher  of  the 
woods "  still  stood  feeding.  Tom  poised  himself 
and  the  gun.  We  stood  motionless,  waiting  the 
shot,  and  heard  Tom  snap  both  caps — the  gun  missed 
fire!  The  click,  of  course,  startled  the  buck,  and, 
with  a  lofty  spring,  and  in  a  great  agitation  of 
bushes,  and  with  an  erected  tail,  he  bounded  into 
the  distance.  Even  Indian  passivity  gave  way,  and 
both  George  and  Tom  uttered  a  cry  of  disappoint- 
ment.    Both  pronounced  him  a  noble  fellow,  and 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  99 

Tom's  liiguest  praise  of  liim  was  that  his  horns 
would  weigh  thirty  pounds. 

This  incident  was  Tom  King's  last  in  our  service. 
He  left  us  here  to  return  home  afoot.  In  the  woods, 
on  the  stream,  in  the  camp  and  in  his  own  cabin, 
he  had  been  faithful,  pleasant  and  valuable.  There 
was  not  a  little  of  the  white  man's  ways,  mingled 
with  a  good  deal  of  the  red  man's,  in  him.  He  is 
ready,  like  most  of  his  race,  to  lend  a  hand  at  any 
casual  thing  that  he  may  find,  but  is  mostly  a  trap- 
per. He  makes  Marquette  the  trading  place  for 
his  pelts,  and  makes  journeys  there  in  winter  on  the 
ice  and  snow  of  the  Michigami  river.  The  parting 
hand  we  gave  him  was  warm  with  the  friendliest 
adieu.  No  one  of  us  will  soon  forget  the  Menomi- 
nee, Tom  King,  of  Bad  water. 

The  first  shot  of  the  night  hunt  we  heard,  was  at 
a  deer  on  the  river  bank.  The  Indians  thought  the 
animal  was  disabled,  if  not  killed,  and  would  proba- 
bly be  found  in  the  woods.  The  deer  brought  in 
was  shot  on  the  edge  of  a  small  lake.  The  boys  re- 
mained there,  sleeping  in  the  canoe.  After  leaving 
the  camp,  on  our  wa}^  down,  a  landing  was  made  for  a 
search  at  the  place  where  the  deer  of  the  night  be- 
fore was  thought  to  have  been  shot.  The  brush, 
thickets  of  bushes  and  trunks  of  fallen  timber,  were 
so  nearly  impenetrable,  to  us,  at  least,  that  it  seemed 
a  mystery  how  even  an  unwounded  buck  could  get 
his  crown  of  antlers  and  himself  through  the  com- 
pact wilderness. 


100  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BEULE. 

This  density  of  undergrowth  and  dehris  of  timber 
are  found  everywhere,  but  for  all  that,  the  flying 
deer  vanishes  with  unaccountable  certainty  and 
speed.  The  Indians  had  trouble  to  move  about,  but 
scoured  the  fastnesses  all  around.  We  struck  on  a 
profusion  of  red  raspberries,  near  the  bank,  and 
vigorously  raided  the  bushes  while  the  search  for  the 
suppositional  deer  was  going  on.  The  Indians 
must  have  befooled  themselves,  after  all,  as  they 
found  no  trace  of  the  deer,  wounded  or  dead,  Pratt 
and  myself,  with  George,  went  on  in  the  advance. 

Pratt's  time  at  last  came  to  witcli  us. with  a  feat 
of  marksmanship.  A  doe  and  her  twin  fawns  were 
pacing  down  a  partially  cleared  bank  ahead,  not 
seeing  us.  Around  a  bend  we  stole  a  quick,  close 
turn  and  surprise  on  them  as  they  were  lapping  the 
water  in  the  edge  of  the  stream.  Before  they  could 
top  the  steep  bank,  for  which  they  sprang,  the  gun 
was  ready,  just  then,with  fatal  accuracy,and  shattered 
the  hind  leg  of  one  of  the  fawns,  when  it  fell  back 
and  reeled  into  a  shallow  pool  formed  by  a  tongue  of 
sand,  and  helplessly  struggled  in  the  water.  George 
leaped  ashore  and  grappled  it.  Pratt  stepped  out 
and  towards  it.  The  woeful  creature  turned  its 
head  to  Pratt,  looking  him  in  the  face,  and  bleated 
piteously,  as  if  imploring  him  to  help  or  spare  it. 
George  dispatched  it  with  a  merciful  thrust  of  a 
knife  in  its  throat. 

The  crying,  quivering  fawn,  crimsoning  the  sand, 


SUMMER    WAYFARIXG.  101 

was  a  spectacle  recalling  the  similar  one  of  the 
wounded  deer  in  the  forest  of  Arden: 

"  The  wretched  animal  heaved  forth  such  groans 
That  their  discharge  did  stretch  his  leathern  coat 
Almost  to  bursting;  and  his  big  round  tears 
Coursed  one  another  down  his  innocent  nose 
In  piteous  chase." 

Pratt,  like  the  melancholy  Jaqnes,  was  disposed 
to  sigh  over  the  sobbing  creature;  the  spectacle  so 
touched  his  tender  and  sympathetic  nature  that,  in  a 
mood  of  compassion  and  compunction,  he  solemnly 
vowed  himself  against  any  future  merely  sportive 
or  needless  slaughter  of  the  innocents. 

"We  passed  all  along  through  the  finest  and  love- 
liest river  and  forest  scenery.  The  stream  was  broad 
and  smooth,  and  a  delicious  air  tempered  the  radi- 
ance of  the  sun,  so  that  gliding  in  easy  and  gentle 
motion  over  the  water,  with  the  senses  all  in  repose- 
ful harmony,  wfts  like  the  calm  and  soft  lapsing  into 
sleep.  At  a  little  cleft  in  the  solid  wall  of  verdure 
was  a  solitary  white  man  lying  on  the  ground  with 
a  rifle  pitched  against  a  tree,  just  at  hand,  on  a 
lonely  watch  for  deer.  The  place  was  a  deer  cross- 
ing, a  run-Ax-ny  or  path  to  the  water,  to  which  they 
repair  for  swimming  over.  Many  of  them  are  fre- 
quently ambushed  in  this  way,  during  the  season, 
when  they  are  migrating. 

Not  far  below  him  was  an  Indian  encampment, 
or  bark  cabin,  where  venison  for  winter  was  being 
smoked,  and  deerskins  were  drying  in  the  sun.     A 


102  TROUTING    ON   THE    BKULE. 

graded  inftint  school  of  papooses  seemed  to  have 
been  turned  out  to  play  when  we  passed,  Avliile 
a  couple  of  curs  j'^^elped  at  us  an  unfriendly  clamor. 
At  noon  we  reached  Peembinwun  rapids.  They 
were  an  ugly  and  hazardous  rush  and  tumult  of 
waters.  The  canoes  were  brought  to;  the  Indians 
got  out  and  took  a  survey,  and  held  an  earnest  and 
considerate  pow-wow.  They  thought  they  might 
venture  to  run  the  canoes  through,  if  partially 
lightened  of  the  load  of  ourselves  and  what  bag- 
gage  we  could  carry  around. 

Each  of  us  gripped  our  blankets  and  valises  and, 
in  not  very  light  marching  order,  filed  along  the 
])ortage.  The  lighter  canoe  went  safely  through 
the  turmoil.  But  the  ordeal  was  more  doubtful  and 
perilous  for  the  larger  and  more  loaded  birch-bark, 
as  both  skill  and  danger  were  involved  in  the  head- 
long passage.  We  were  eager  to  witness  the  home- 
stretch of  the  exciting  run.  Our  point  of  view  was 
the  brow  of  a  little  cliff  overlooking  the  scene.  We 
saw  the  craft  let  loose,  and  sweeping  on  among 
the  tossing  breakers,  guided  by  incredibly  quick 
changes  of  the  paddle,  or  by  sheering  with  the  pole, 
and  shooting  madly  ahead,  and  swiftly,  like  a  weav- 
er's shuttle,  all  through,  but  in  safety,  into  the 
calm  waters  below.  We  huzzaed  the  boys  with  a 
will. 

It  was  only  a  short  time  after  leaving  that  place, 
that  an  inconsiderate  deer  was  seen  nibbling  grass 


SUMJIEK   WAYFARING.  103 

in  the  water's  edge.  As  it  was  a  short-horned  buck, 
and  Pratt's  vow  of  compassionate  forbearance  only 
applied  to  fawns,  it  was  no  act  of  perfidy  to  him- 
self to  shoot  the  heedless  quadruped  then  before  him, 
if  he  could.  He,  therefore,  mobilized  his  forces  for 
the  occasion.  The  deer  must  have  been  as  deaf  as 
a  post,  or  the  victim  of  some  inscrutable  delusion  or 
optical  infirmity,  else  George  could  not  have  sneaked 
a  direct  march  to  within  forty  yards  distance  from  it. 
As  it  stood  with  its  whole  broadside  fully  exposed, 
in  point  blank  range,  a  conspicuous  target,  Pratt 
himself  must  have  been  egregiously  wild  and  ran- 
dom in  his  gunnery,  not  to  have  smitten  the  deer 
with  a  hail  of  buckshot.  So,  in  fact,  he  did  effect- 
ually pepper  and  perforate  its  leathern  coat,  so  that 
the  deer  dropped  wounded  into  the  water,  where  it 
struggled  desperately  to  regain  its  feet. 

George  ran  the  canoe  to  it,  sprang  out,  and  with 
a  cut-throat  jab  of  his  knife,  ended  its  respiratory 
functions  forever.  The  readiness  with  which  the 
Indians  flayed  off  the  skin,  was  suggestive  of  the 
neatness  and  dispatch  of  the  scalp-stripping  ]M"o- 
cess  for  which  the  untamed  savage  has  anatuial 
devilish  proclivity  and  historic  repute.  A  haunch 
was  carved  off  for  venison  steaks,  and  the  rest  of 
the  carcass  was  left  there  to  feast  the  minks  and 
crows- of  the  woods. 

Pratt  had  now  fairly  won  his  spurs  as  a  deer- 
slayer,  and  being  once  more   a  little    scrupulous 


104  TKOUTINtt   ON   THE    BRULE. 

about  needless  bloodsliedding,  was  ready  to  hand 
over  the  armament  and  munitions  to  Bissell,  who 
was  more  than  willing  to  undertake  the  gory  busi- 
ness. He  was  not  much  of  a  field  sportsman,  and 
had  yet  to  realize  his  first  flurry  of  buck-fever.  He 
wanted  to  try  his  hand.  To  shoot  one  deer  only 
would  be  glory  and  fame  enough  for  him. 

Bissell  ]jad  very  wiselj^  forethought  that,  in  case 
of  failure  to  hack  a  pair  of  horns  from  the  bleeding 
front  of  a  buck  of  his  own  slaying,  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  woods  to  be  taken  home  to  excite  the  admira- 
tion of  his  friends,  it  might  be  well  to  take  the  hint 
from  a  frequent  trick  of  luckless  fishers  who  come 
home  laden  with  messes  caught  in  the  fish  market 
with  a  price.  So  lie  had  provided  at  Dickey's  a 
jolly  front  of  antlers,  which  had  long  hung  season- 
ing among  the  cobwebs  of  the  cabin  rafters,  and 
sent  it  by  Evanson's  team  to  Marinette  for  express- 
age  to  Chicago. 

A  rage  to  kill  just  one  deer  is  not  uncommon 
with  verdant  men-at-arms.  There  is  a  story  of  one 
of  these  irrepressible  fellows,  who  was  one  of  Burton 
C.  Cook's  party  making  a  tour  of  the  woods.  He 
carried  his  rifle  constantly  on  the  qui  vive  for  the 
imminent  deer.  The  solitary  one  that  materialized 
on  the  entire  round  of  the  trip,  as  if  by  the  wind  of 
fortune  blown  to  mortal  doom  in  the  apparent  jaws 
of  destruction,  cantered  without  scath,  and  close 
past  the  very  clump  of  bushes  where  Verdant  Ven- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  105 

ator,  just  then  disarmed,  had  lain  down   on   the 
grass  to  snooze. 

By  this  time  Pratt  and  Bissell  were  affected  with 
premonitory  symptoms  of  home-fever,  by  reason  of 
supposed  exigencies  of  business.  Though  they 
loved  our  gentle,  dreamy  and  tardy  voyaging  not 
less,  they  favored  home-tending  rapid  momentum 
more.  High  and  I  were  still  untired  of  the  woods 
and  the  stream,  and  would  fain  prolong  the  canoe- 
ing and  tenting  to  the  extent  of  the  most  leisurely 
and  tardy  return.  By  the  camp  fire  at  night  we  sat 
in  sober  council  over  the  matter,  and  puffed  a  great 
deal  of  smoke  during  tlie  session,  but  we  neither 
befogged  their  wits  with  the  smoke,  nor  was  our  logic 
potent  enough  to  convince  them  that  we  understood 
the  demands  of  their  business  better  than  them- 
selves, or  to  change  what  had  become  a  foregone 
conclusion. 

Home  being  the  word,  the  next  thing  was  to  ar- 
range the  details,  as  to  a  division  of  the  flotilla, 
of  supplies  and  of  Indian  service.  As  there  was 
no  peremptory  spirit  or  any  positive  ultimatum  on 
either  side,  a  result  was  speedily  reached.  Early 
in  the  morning  the  camp  was  in  motion,  and  the 
'  matin  repast  soon  prepared  and  dispatched.  To 
give  our  parting  comrades  a  good  send-ofl^,  we  em- 
barked at  the  same  time  to  consort  them  as  far  as 
"White  Rapids. 

There,  in  the  smaller  canoe,  and  with  George  as 


106  TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

swinger  of  the  paddle,  Bissell  and  Pratt,  stowed  tliem- 
selves  and  their  belongings.  Bissell  fignratively 
said  that  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  party.  There 
were  no  visible  ocular  effects,  but  we  all  felt  some 
flutter  of  the  heart,  some  twitching  of  the  lips  and 
some  swell  in  the  throat,  when  the  good-b3'e  was 
spoken  and  the  parting  hand  in  hand  was  clasped. 
It  was  a  parting  we  could  well  have  spared.  We 
sat  on  the  bank  watching  them.  As  they  receded, 
they  waved  us  with  their  white  cambrics  one  last 
adieu,  and  then  another,  until  they  vanished  in  the 
far-down  offing. 

White  Rapids,  so  called  from  a  reach  of  shallow, 
white-capped  rapids,  is  a  settlement  of  a  Chippewa 
populace,  and  of  a  half  dozen  cabins,  with  small 
natural  meadows  on  both  shores,  greenly  bordering 
the  frothy  and  brawling  turbulence  of  the  river. 
Excepting  New  York  farm,  this  meadowy  and  dis- 
forested acreage  was  more  typical,  apparently,  of 
Christianity,  civilization  and  agriculture,  than  any- 
thing yet  seen  along  the  Menominee. 

A  half  mile  back,  there  is  an  infinitesimal  brook, 
spirally  lengthening  through  a  patch  of  meadoM', 
and  running  into  an  impenetrable  wood.  Paltry 
as  it  is,  there  is  a  current  Indian  tradition  of  its 
being  a  trout  stream.  High  thinks  wherever  there 
flow's  such  a  brook  or  rill,  he  must  have  a  throw 
there,  and  to  pass  by  a  streamlet  wuth  trout  in  it, 
even  were  they  but  minnows  of  trout,  without  mak- 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  107 

ing  its  acquaintance,  even  briefly,  would  be  a  dere- 
liction for  which  he  could  not  easily  forgive  himself, 

Thebault  led  the  way  to  the  petty  stream.  It 
looked  as  if  it  would  be  troutiuf;  under  difficulties 
to  experiment  in  it  with  the  fly.  The  grasses  al- 
most smothered  it;  osiers  and  branches  overhung  it, 
and  there  was  an  interlock,  often,  of  brush  on  the 
bottom  and  through  it,  and  it  was  all  one  could  do 
to  cast  a  line  anywhere.  At  the  hazard  of  utterly 
demoralizing  his  rod,  and  of  his  eyes  being 
scratched  out,  or  of  his  clothes  being  slit  into  rags. 
High  pushed  in  wherever  he  could  thrust  his  nose 
through  the  hindrances,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
vexations  of  such  angling.  However,  he  so  effi- 
ciently wielded  the  rod,  that  in  not  much  more  than 
an  hour's  worrying  in  the  thickets  he  had  whisked 
out  nineteen  handsome  trout. 

I  thought  that  in  this  wayside  or  chance  diver- 
sion he  evinced  greatly  more  of  the  higher  skill 
and  qualities  of  an  expert  troutsman  than  he  did 
in  the  canoe  fishing  on  the  Brule,  where  the  elbow- 
room  was  free  and  the  throwing  clear.  These  trout, 
it  is  true,  put  on  the  scales,  would  not  tell  a  large 
figure  in  a  total  of  pounds,  but  I  fancied  High  was 
rather  proud  of  this  achievement,  and  that  in  the 
way,  if  not  of  lv^eiglit,yet  of  patience,  art  and  skill, 
these  nineteen  trifles  made  enough  of  a  wonder 
of  exj^loit  to  show  The'hault  and  myself  how  ang- 
ling thus  was  to  "  strive  with  things  impossible, 


108  TROUTING  ON  THE  BBULE. 

yea,  get  the  better  of  them,"  as  in  fact  it  seemed 
to  be. 

Pike  river  comes  in  not  far  below  White  Rapids. 
An  Indian  cabin  stands  there.  We  thought  we 
could  there  hear  news  of  Stockton's  party,  and  so 
turned  ashore  to  interview  the  natives  of  the  habi- 
tation. We  all  of  us  started  np  the  path  leading 
to  it.  A  ferocious,  long-haired,  large  dog  was  lying 
in  front  of  the  door,  in  the  sun,  snapping  wickedly 
at  flies  or  fleas.  Thebault,  as  dragoman,  took  the 
lead,  we  following,  with  our  eyes  carefully  fixed  on 
the  dog,  which,  however,  was  so  exclusively  devoted 
to  his  petty  tormentors  that  he  scarcely  noticed 
ns.  We  entered  the  domicile.  The  inmates  were 
female,  except  possibly  a  swaddled  papoose,  cling- 
ing, affrighted,  around  the  maternal  neck.  After 
once  starting,  their  squaw  gift  of  speech  was  quite 
equal  in  fluency  and  copiousness  to  that  of  the  most 
gifted  of  their  Christian  sisters. 

Our  inquiry  as  to  the  Stockton  party  was  satis- 
fied in  learning  that  it  had  passed  the  day  before 
into  Pike  river  in  good  plight.  But  the  conversation 
took,  evidently,  a  wider  scope,  and  our  interpreter 
probably  was  doing  the  agreeable  on  his  own  ac- 
count. One  of  the  gentle  savages  was  girlish,  and 
quite  comely  in  the  face,  with  raven  dark  hair,  "  like 
the  sweep  of  a  swift  wing  in  vision,"  though  the 
rather  bulbous  figure  and  ponderous  size,  and  afoot 
that  would  "bend  a  blade  of  grass  or  shake  the 


SUMMER   WATFAEIXG.  109 

downy  blow-ball  from  liis  stalk,"  were  not  types 
of  feminine  grace  or  models  of  art.  Bnt,  withal, 
this  belle  of  the  lodge  or  wigwam  would  not  be  un- 
attractive, even  bevond  the  pale  of  Indian  paganism. 

A  picture  of  more  grace  than  the  Indian  maiden 
was  a  beautiful  fawn  standing  on  the  bank  at  Wau- 
sauka  bend,  calmly  looking  us  in  the  face.  The- 
bault  tried  to  scare  it  by  motioning  and  shouting, 
but  it  only  trotted  off  a  few  paces  and  faced  us 
again,  as  if  lost  or  confused.  The  spotted  innocent 
was  entirely  out  of  harm's  way  from  us,  as  tlie  gun 
that  the  "  round  haunches  gor'd  "  was  then  on  a 
forced  march  to  IMarinette. 

As  we  turned  the  bend  at  AVausauka,  we  swept 
into  the  prospect  of  a  line  large  spreading  meadow 
or  sward,  and  a  little  on,  in  the  river  edge  of  the  land- 
scape were  two  white  tents  with  a  covered  wagon, 
some  grazing  liorses  and  a  good  deal  of  a  day's 
washing  hung  out  to  dry.  These  were  signs  of  civ- 
ilization. We  bore  dowm  at  once  for  the  camp. 
Our  coming  appeared  to  have  brought  out  of  the 
tents  three  or  four  women  and  children,  on  a  sur- 
prise and  with  a  curiosity  equal  to  our  own. 

To  us,  this  appearance  of  ladies  in  that  out-of-the- 
way  place  was  like  a  happy  vision  burst  on  us  out 
of  the  heavens.  We  were  ready  to  echo  Jaffier's 
fervid  tribute  to  woman,  or  at  least,  to  recall  it, 
that  angels  are  painted  fair  to  look  like  her;  she  Ims 
in  her  all  we  believe  of  heaven:    and  we  had  been 


110  TEOTJTING   ON   THE   BRULE. 

brutes  without  her.  Under  the  inspiration  of  this 
or  a  similar  chivalrous  sentiment,  High  thought  it 
his  duty,  regarding,  for  the  moment,  these  ladies  as 
personating,  or  typifying,  the  sex  in  general,  to  offer 
them  his  liomage. 

The  gallant  chevalier  stepped  ashore  for  that  pur- 
pose. He  was  mindful  enough  of  the  difference 
between  woman  in  the  abstract  and  in  the  particu- 
lar to  move  a  little  further  and  out  of  the  way  to 
make  up  to  the  fairest  one  of  the  sirens.  Knowing 
very  well  the  sensibility  of  the  sex  -to  the  charms  of 
scenery,  he  attempted  to  steal  a  march  into  her  good 
graces  through  this  weak  point  by  the  delicate  topo- 
graphical observation,  conveyed  in  the  blandest  man- 
ner: "  This  is  a  beautiful  camping  place,  madam." 
There  was  nothing  extravagant  or  far-fetched  in 
that  remark,  and  the  deportment  of  High  was  ad- 
mirable. 

Whether  the  lady  felt  that  it  was  the  crowning 
glory  of  a  true  woman  to  be  the  admiration  and  hap- 
piness of  one  rather  than  the  toast,  or  the  cynosure 
of  any  "  vagrom  men"  that  might  come  roving 
along  there  in  canoes,  without  letters  of  intro- 
duction or  testimonials  of  character;  or,  whether 
the  offense  was  in  addressing  her  as  madame  and 
not  mademoiselle,  she,  at  all  events,  received  and 
responded  to  High's  winning  amenities  of  speech 
and  manner  with  a  giggle  and  snicker  of  derision, 
and  majestically  strode  back  into  the  tent.     So  did 


SUMMER   WATFAETNG.  Ill 

her  sisters  and  her  cousins  and  her  aunts.  This 
ended  the  deportment  business,  shattered  the  Jaf- 
fier  ideal  into  smithers,  and  settled  High.  He 
retired  in  as  good  order  as  he  could,  considering 
the  sudden  demoralization,  and  asked  me  if  I  could 
see  anything  in  tfiat  remark  to  laugh  at.  He  did 
not  think  I  could,  and,  I  owned,  1  could  not. 

The  oni}'^  suggestion  I  could  offer  him  for  the 
unaccountable  disdain  of  the  lady  he  had  picked 
out  as  the  particular  one  angels  were  painted  fair 
to  look  like,  was  that  the  apparel  of  our  party  gen- 
erally, and  of  some  of  it  in  particular,  was  in  a 
condition  of  seediness  and  decrepitude  that  may 
have  marked  us  in  her  mind  as  tramps  or  fellows 
no  better  than  we  should  be.  We  learned  that  the 
ladies  were  of  a  party  from  Menominee,  encamping 
there,  the  gentlemen  of  which  were  then  out  hunt- 
ing. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SANTTAKY  MATTERS— DA  vis'  PAIN-KILLER— THE  RELAY  nOTJSE 
AGAIN — FARLIN's  PARTY — LYING  IN  THE  SHADE — UPPER 
TWIN  ISLAND — LAST  CAMP  AND  ITS  DISCOMFORTS — THE 
LOWER  MENOMINEE — AT  MENOMINEE — END  OF  THE  TRIP. 

The  river  turns  on  itself  at  Wausauka,  forming 
a  long  promontory  tln'ee  miles  around,  by  canoe,  but 
across  its  base,  by  portage,  only  a  few  rods.  We 
preferred  tlie  three  miles  of  ease  and  languor  on  tlie 
water-way  to  a  short  portage,  and  when  we  had 
made  the  run,  we  landed  and  crowned  the  t'p  of 
the  steep  bank  with  our  camp  and  tent  for  the 
night.  This  was  on  one  of  the  borders  of  the  open 
or  clearing  of  Wausauka,  and  commanded  a  fine 
view  of  it  and  of  the  river. 

We  found  we  had  placed  ourselves  at  the  mercy 
of  the  most  ravenous  mosquitoes  of  the  whole  trip. 
The  comparatively  moderate  skirmish  line  that  at- 
tended our  landing  was  reinforced,  from  time  to 
time,  by  swarms  from  a  distance,  until  we  were  be- 
(112) 


SUMMER  WAYFARING.  113 

clouded  "with  the  biting  legions.  We  smudged  our 
faces  and  hands  with  oil  and  tar,  and  repeating  this 
was  a  principal  branch  of  the  business  carried  on 
at  night  in  the  tent. 

So  far  we  had  had  a  clean  bill  of  health,  and  the 
sanitary  condition  had  been  superb.  But  at  "\Vau- 
sauka  promontory  camp.  High  fancied  he  was  out 
of  sorts.  The  entire  stock  of  medicines  at  com- 
mand consisted  of  one  vial  of  Davis'  pain-killer, 
and  one  vial  of  aperient  powders,  so  of  course  the 
choice  of  remedies  was  limited.  He  thought  the 
pain-killer  would  "yank"  him  about  right.  I 
thought  it  did.  A  few  drops  of  it  in  warm  water 
told  the  story.  If  its  internal  effects  were  to  be 
judged  from  the  puckering  of  the  mouth  and  wry- 
ness  of  face,  his  true  inwardness-must  have  been  in 
a  state  of  lively  commotion.  Its  effect,  however, 
was  happy,  and  restored  High  to  his  customary  hy- 
gienic condition  and  cheerfulness. 

We  were  sped  onwards  gently  and  steadily  by 
Thebault,  counting  the  hours,  not  that  they  came 
too  slowly,  but  that  they  were,  one  by  one,  bringing 
us  nearer  to  the  end  of  the  voyage.  When  we  came 
to  the  Relay  House  landing,  near  the  hut  of  the 
priest-hunter,  we  moved,  or  rather  drew  out  on  the 
bank  our  canoe,  and  tramped  the  half-mile  way  to 
the  Relay  House.  We  had,  the  day  before,  seen  a 
fleet  of  four  canoes  being  poled  up  the  river,  and 
learned  now  that  Farlin's  party  had  passed  there,  by 
8 


114  TKOUTING  OX  THE  BKULE. 

team,  on  the  route  we  liad  taken,  to  Sturgeon  farm, 
to  go  into  camp  at  Hamilton  Lake.  This  party  was 
a  nimrod  party  more  than  a  trout-rod  ])arty,  and 
was  to  devote  itself  much  more  to  using  bullets 
than  to  recreation  with  the  fly. 

The  Kelay  House  was  quite  empty  and  silent. 
Its  few  inmates  were  off  in  the  fields,  and  its  appear- 
ance was  very  different  from  that  of  the  rainy  even- 
ing our  party  housed  there.  Even  the  logman's 
hut  was  left  by  the  clergyman  to  its  solitude,  and 
the  scene  was  little  like  that  of  our  night  at  the  hos- 
telry. Two  miles  below  we  hauled  to  for  lunch,  at  a 
grassy  bank,  though  the  shade  was  meagre. 

As  all  the  hurry  and  home-fever  passed  off  with 
Pratt  and  Bissell,  w^e  had  time  enough  on  our 
hands,  and  were  trying  to  take  our  ease  for  the 
remainder  of  the  short  trip.  "\Ye  found  shade 
enough  for  a  siesta;  the  breeze  was  lively,  wav- 
ing the  grasses  and  foliage  into  woodland  music 
and  rouo'liino'  the  stream  into  silver  wavelets. 
We  readily  enough  dropped  into  slumber,  and 
only  roused  when  the  signal  of  the  lunch  was 
given.  We  awoke  from  a  siesta  or  any  sleep  that 
reached  to  a  meal  hour,  by  a  sort  of  self-acting  im- 
pulse, like  that  of  an  alarm  clock  set  to  strike  at 
an  alloted  hour,  when  a  repast  was  set  out.  For- 
esters and  campers  train  themselves  to,  or  acquire, 
this  sort  of  automatic  waking  up  to  answer  de- 
mands of  the  stomach. 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  115 

After  the  refreshing  cloze  and  tlie  lunch,  and  on  the 
voyage  being  again  resumed,  we  had  the  almost  daily 
pillar  of  cloud  following  in  the  wake,  which  shaded 
us  from  the  sun  at  first,  but,  in  its  thickening  and 
darkening,  ominously  prognosticated  a  heavy  rain. 
We  were  just  enough  ahead  of  the  masses  of  cloud, 
to  reach  a  point  eligible,  but,  at  all  events,  neces- 
sary for  setting  the  tent  in  a  field  or  clearing  oppo- 
site tlie  end  of  Upper  Twin  Island.  The  rain  did 
ns  the  service  and  favor  of  holding  off  until  the 
tent  was  stretched  and  pegged  down,  and  very  soon 
after  the  showers  fell  copiously  for  a  time;  and,  in 
an  interval,  partly  of  entire  cessation  and  partly 
of  subsiding  into  a  sprinkle,  the  cooking  fire  was 
kept  barely  alive  long  enough  to  afford  us  the 
customary  draught  of  tea  and  some  other  of  the 
staples,  for  supper. 

We  had  not  more  than  finished  our  evening  refec- 
tion when  the  rain  began  pouring  in  torrents,  leak- 
ing through  the  tent,  and  running  in  from  one  side 
in  little  rills  at  our  feet.  Thebault  scoured  the  ad- 
jacency, where  was  an  Indian  cabin,  to  hunt  timber 
or  pieces  of  wood  to  support  or  prop  up  the  blan- 
ket quarters  out  of  a  puddle.  He  confiscated 
some  clapboards  from  somewhere,  and  by  laying 
them  on  the  ground  we  improvised  a  water-proof 
bedstead  for  the  final  sleep  in  the  woods. 

To  add  to  the  misery  and  discomfort  of  the  situ- 
ation, the  mosquitoes  of  all  the  country — at  least 


116  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BEULE. 

of  more  than  one  township — semed  to  swarm  in 
for  shelter  from  the  rain.  Thej  were  rapacions, 
and  thirsted  for  nothing  less  than  all  the  blood  of 
all  the  part3\  The  air  was  close,  damp  and  sultry, 
and  all  these,  with  the  constant  flashing  of  light- 
ning and  frequent  peals  of  thunder,  far  into  the 
night,  made  our  tent  anything  but  a  pavilion  of 
ease,  rest  and  deep  sl.eep.  "We  were  only  sixteen 
miles  from  Marinette.  "We  had  heard  the  six 
o'clock  steam-whistle  of  the  mills  there.  That 
sound  was  the  knell  or  signal  of  our  ending  life  in 
the  tent  and  in  the  woods.  The  memories  of  the 
last  camp  were  disagreeable  ones.  Kain,  heat,  thun- 
der, lightning,  mosquitoes,  sleeplessness,  in  aggra- 
vating combination,  served  to  make  it  almost  a 
night  of  horrors.  The  scenery  of  the  river  and  all 
the  charm  of  navigating  it  end  at  Twin  Islands. 
From  thence  to  the  mouth  was  a  monotony  of  bar- 
renness and  almost  waste,  the  timber  having  been 
long  since  stripped  oflf. 

We  reached  Menominee  at  noon.  The  vacation 
ramble  ended  there;  canoeing  on  the  streams  and 
tenting  in  the  forests,  our  open  air  life,  were  to  be, 
thence,  only  memories;  but  with  us,  memories 
always  golden  and  abiding! 


CHAPTER    X. 

SECOND  BRULE  EXCUKSION — NEW  ROUTE — ARTHUR  T,  JONES 
— NEW  GUIDES — PREVIOUS  ARRANGEMENTS — W.  H.  STEN- 
NETT  —  REPUBLIC  —  TUE  MICHIGAMI  —  UNEASY  LYING  — 
STORES — CIRCULATING  LIBRARY — TWO  KISSES — A  BEAR 
AHEAD — TROUTING  AND  CHUBS — TALKING  SHOP — A  METEO- 
ROLOGICAL-LEGAL CONTROVERSY — THE  EARLY  RISER — 
BROOKS — A  STATUESQUE  GROUP  —  BUCK-FEVER — A  NIGHT- 
HUNT — FIRST  BLOOD — HUZZA  FOR  DENISON. 

A  SECOND  Brule  river  excursion  was  arrano-ed. 
The  members  of  it  -were  High,  Pratt,  tlie  writer, 
and  Franklin  Denison,  also  a  Chicago  lawyer.  A 
route  different  from  that  traced  in  the  previous 
pages  was  chosen.  This  was  to  afford  novelty, 
greater  variety  of  scenery  and  a  traverse  of  further 
and  wider  regions.  The  railway  connections  were 
the  Chicago  &  Isorthwestern  through  Marinette  to 
Negannee,  thence  the  Marquette,  Houghton  and 
Ontonagon  Railway  to  Humboldt,  and  thence  a 
short  branch  to  Republic,  on  the  Michigami  river, 
where  are  the  great  iron  mines  of  that  name. 
(117) 


118  TKOUTING   ON   THE   BRULE. 

The  canoes  of  tlie  previous  voyage,  the  Dickey 
and  Tom  King,  had  been  laid  by  at  Marinette,  in 
the  care  of  Arthur  T.  Jones,  the  freight  and  ticket 
agent  of  the  North- Western  Railway  at  that  place, 
and  as  a  sort  of  pledge  committed  to  his  guardian- 
ship, had  been  carefully  and  safel}'"  kept  in  all  their 
integrity,  ready  on  call  for  immediate  service.  This 
gentleman  is  himself  an  expert  and  devotee  both  of 
rod  and  gun,  and  is,  as  well  as  W.  H.  Stennett,  the 
General  Passenger  Agent  of  the  Chicago  &  Korth- 
"Western  Hallway,  at  Chicago,  a  cyclopedia  of  infor- 
mation on  all  matters  relating  to  sport,  either  hunt- 
ing or  fishing:,  and  the  routes  leadinoj  to  therescions 
of  sport  in  "Wisconsin  and  upper  Michigan,  so  man}' 
of  which  are  traversed  or  reached,  from  Chicago,  by 
the  IS^orth- "Western  Railway  and  its  connections, 
and,  also,  relating  to  the  necessary  equipment  and 
the  means  of  supplying  it.  Like  other  cj^clopedias, 
these  gentlemen  are  free  and  liberal  of  their  infor- 
mation to  all  who  may  choose  to  consult  them. 

To  Mr.  Jones'  kindly  and  accommodating  civil- 
ity, and  to  his  intelligent  foresight  in  our  behalf, 
we  were  much  and  gratefully  indebted  for  the  suc- 
cess and  pleasure  which,  it  will  be  seen,  attended 
our  excursion.  Particularly  by  his  judicious  action, 
in  pre-concert  with  us,  we  were  provided,  in  advance, 
with  a  splendid  retinue  of  guides.  These  were,  the 
reader's  acquaintance  of  the  previous  images,  Mitch- 
ell Thebault,  David  Kaquotash,  a  younger  brother 


SUMMER   WAITAKING.  110 

of  the  George  Kaquotash  of  the  former  Briile  party, 
and  a  veteran  in  woodcraft,  Paul  Thebault,  brother 
of  Mitchell  Thebault,  and  Joe  Dixon,  the  two  latter 
half-breeds.  We  knew  from  Mr.  Jones  that  these, 
our  new  acquaintances,  were  trusty,  willing  and 
hearty  in  such  service,  and  tliat  they  were  exper- 
ienced in  woods  and  life  in  the  woods,  from  having 
traversed  our  intended  route,  as  well  as  other  direc- 
tions in  the  wilderness,  with  parties  prospecting 
timber  lands,  or  with  locators  or  surveyors  of  land, 
or  with  parties,  like  our  own,  in  pursuit  of  vacation 
sport  and  recreation.  In  tlic  robust  and  athletic 
frames  of  these  auxiliaries  we  could,  at  a  glance, 
foresee  all  the  muscle  and  endurance  requisite  for 
the  service  for  which  they  were  engaged.  The 
canoes,  with  David  in  charge,  had  been  forwarded 
by  Mr.  Jones  to  Republic  a  day  in  advance.  The 
other  three  guides  joined  us  at  Marinette. 

On  a  clouded  August  afternoon,  the  party  and  its 
outfit  reached  Republic,  and  lirst  touched  the  Mich- 
igan! i  river. 

Around  tlie  hill,  a  mile  below  the  village,  on  the 
brink  of  the  river,  was  the  iirst  encampment.  "The 
water- works  for  supplying  the  mines,  with  the  rum- 
bling machinery,  was  close  at  hand.  The  situation 
was  not  delightful.  Tlie  dull,  leaden  sky  made  it 
look,  and  the  damp  air  made  it  feel,  much  less  than 
pleasing.     The  temperature  reipinded  us  of  a  Chi- 


120  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

cago  [N'ovembcr,  "but  nothing  at  all  of  August  dog- 
da  js. 

Even  under  these  inauspicious  conditions,  Pratt 
was  almost  buoyant,  and  Denison  well-nigh  irre- 
pressible. In  fact,  both  of  them  thought  they  might 
prelude  a  little  to  get  their  hands  in,  one  with  the 
rod  and  one  with  the  gun.  The  prospect  for  game  or 
fish  at  tliat  point  was  wholly  unpromising.  Pratt, 
with  his  fiy-rod,  struck  an  attitude  on  the  bank, 
and  presently  snatched  out  an  ignoble  cluib.  This 
instantly  chilled  his  ardor,  and  he  promptly  betook 
himself  to  camp  for  some  other  more  satisfj^ing  re- 
source. Denison,  equipped  with  his  fire-arms, 
rano;ed  about  in  search  of  anvthino;  on  foot  or  wino^, 
and  worked  his  way  to  the  east  of  us,  among  the  bush- 
es. He  did  not  wholly  waste  his  time  or  ammunition. 
He  put  a  solitary  partridge  to  death  and  blowed  a 
chattering  kingfisher  to  its  kingdom  come.  High 
and  myself  tediously  busied  ourselves  in  doing 
nothing. 

Our  first  night  encampment  was  not  delightful 
or  soothing.  The  air  was  very  damp  and  chilling, 
and  we  shivered  as  it  swept  freely  and  moistly 
about  us.  "When  we  had  retired,  sleep  was  won 
only  after  long  and  toilsome  pursuit.  Sleepers 
on  hair  mattresses, feather  pillows  and  in  chambers, 
could  not,  all  at  once,  fall  into  the  different  somnif- 
erous conditions  of  a  blanket  bed,  with  boots  or 
satchel  for  bolster,  terra  fir  ma  for  bedstead,   and 


SUMMER   WAYE'AKINO.  121 

an  airj  tent  for  dormitorj.  Cf  course,  a  discipline  of 
restlessness  was  a  natural  preliminary  to  our  first 
sleep.  One  of  the  party  referred  to  a  vulgar  calumny 
of  many  of  the  unregenerate,  that  lawyers  find  lying 
on  any  or  either  side  no  trouble  at  all,  and  observed 
that  he  had  been  lying  on  one  side,  and  then  lying  on 
the  other  side,  most  of  the  night,  and  the  lying  was 
anything  but  easy,  and  certainly  was  not  his  forte. 
Probably  this  was  meant  as  a  joke,  but  at  all  events 
it  was  received  as  fact  and  in  silence. 

Another  of  the  party,  in  a  reflective  mood  before 
sleep,  could  discern  from  what  seemed  unpropi- 
tious  signs,  only  an  unpromising  outlook  ahead. 
Much  of  the  c^lowino;  native  hue  of  the  resolution 
with  which  he  set  out  on  the  expedition,  had  con- 
siderably sicklied  over  with  a  pale  and  cheerless 
cast  of  thought.  He  sang  small  and  in  the  pen- 
itential strain  of  a  miserere.  However,  with  the 
dawn  of  morning  and  the  lifting  of  the  dense  fog, 
which  in  the  night  thickly  encompassed  us,  and  in 
the  glowing  sunshine,  the  situation  and  prospect 
changed  their  seeming,  and  the  perspective  of  the 
mind's  eye  brightened  into  harmony  with  the  radi- 
ance of  the  sky. 

The  night's  experience  taught  me  that  additional 
blanketing  was  essential.  My  Chicago  blankets 
were  too  light.  Fortunately  the  Iron  Company's 
store  ^had  a  stock  of  these  goods  of  all  qualities.  I 
made  my  way  to  the  village  and  procured  a  j)air. 


122  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

heavy  with  the  fleeces  of  many  sheep,  and  suitable 
for  regions  more  Arctic  tlian  these.  High,  who  was 
to  be  my  fellow  of  the  couch,  seeing  the  comfort 
lying  in  their  folds,  Avelcomed  their  arrival  in  the 
tent  with  a  smile  of  benignity.  They  would  con- 
tribute to  the  warmth  of  feeling  between  us. 

The  forenoon  was  spent  by  the  Indians  in  over- 
hauling the  canoes  which  had  not  swam  the  water 
for  a  year,  and  there  were  seams  to  be  pegged  up 
and  leaks  to  be  pitched.  They  handled  the  craft 
delicately,  in  fact  lovingly,  as  if  they  were  things 
of  life  endeared  to  them.  We  took  account  of  stock, 
of  the  collective  outfit,  of  our  eight  pairs  of  blankets, 
which,  when  spread,  were  to  be  slept  on,  and  wdien 
rolled  into  bundles  would  be  sat  on,  of  our  two  pon- 
chos, of  our  valises,  of  our  tackle.  There  were 
Denison's  gun-case  and  his  caisson,  in  which  his 
fixed  ammunition  and  deadly  missiles  were  carried. 

The  contents  of  the  baskets  and  valises  were 
curiously  miscellaneous.  In  the  way  of  hygienic 
precaution  there  was  a  whole  pocket  pharmacy  of 
homoeopathic  tincts,  pills  and  powders.  Pratt  was 
our  professor  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  medicine, 
and  actual  medical  adviser  and  dispenser.  For  mi- 
asmatic localities  there  was  Kentucky  old  crow, 
some  sour  mash  for  probable  malarial  effects,  and, 
as  a  general  tonic,  or  catholicon,  to  be  used  as  an 
extraordinary  remedy  (consult  High's  "  Extraprdin- 
ary  Eem.edies,")  there  was  Hennesey  Cognac  (1865). 


SUMMER   WAYFARIISrG.  123 

Bj  exercise  of  a  liberal  foresiglit,  abundant  fare 
■was  provided  to  feed  the  mind  and  meet  any  reason- 
able intellectual  avidity  of  the  party.  In  fact  there 
vras  a  circulating  library  in  the  valises.  The  cata- 
logue included  three  or  four  of  Jules  Yerne's  inven- 
tions, Lakeside  edition,  ten  cents,  "Joshua  Haggard's 
Daughter,"  "Weavers  and  Weft,"  "  Christie  John- 
son," "Two  Destinies,"  "Heaps  of  Money,"  "The 
American  Senator,"  and  a  few  other  brown-tint, 
paper-covered  novelistic  obscurities.  It  will  be  per- 
ceived that  this  was  the  very  lightest  intellectual 
marchinof  bao-o-ao-e. 

Supposing  for  myself  that  the  merest  nut-shell,  as 
it  were,  of  literature,  would  be  enough  for  the  mental 
sustentation  of  trouters  ai^d  canoeists,  and  as  a  re- 
source for  a  rainy  day,  I  had  brought  Walton's 
"  Complete  Angler "  as  my  own  sole  reading.  It 
was  chosen  from  a  principle  or  sense  of  congruity. 
Its  theme  accorded  with  our  programme,  which 
was  piscatorial,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  reading 
for  the  occasion  should  relate  to  the  aim  and  spirit 
of  the  occasion.  For  instance,  Denison's  speciality 
beino;  that  of  huntino;  more  than  of  anj^lino:,  I 
fancied  his  literary  researches  would  relate  to  the 
natural  history  of  the  regions  to  be  traversed,  or  to 
the  science  of  gunning  and  projectiles.  But  his 
bookish  humor  was  not  for  subjects  of  gunpowder 
or  zoology. 

1  had  my  opinion  of  Denison  when  I  saw  the  sen- 


124:  TKOUTING   ON   THE   BRULE. 

timental  gunner  stretch  out  languidly  on  liis  blanket 
spread,  and  fall  a-sigliing  over  Hawley  Smart's  love 
tale  of  "  Two  Kisses."  The  title-page  motto  of  that 
romance  of  tender  affection,  "  Methinks  no  wrong 
it  were  if  I  should  steal  from  those  two  melting 
rubies,  one  poor  kiss,"  settled  it  as  to  the  insidious 
and  inflammatory  tenor  of  that  story  of  lips  and  love, 
and  for  what  his  literary  mouth  watered.  It  was 
rather  -a  wonder  that  he,  an  off-shoot  of  Plymouth 
rock  and  a  scion  of  a  devout  Puritan  ancestry, 
should  rapturize  over  a  perilous  romance,  whose 
very  front  legend  or  key-note  was  an  incentive  and 
lure  to  kissing  kleptomania. 

There  was  a  rumor  of  a  great  bear  ranging  the 
country'-  down  the  river.  This  bruin  would  be 
notable  food  for  any  man's  powder,  and  test  any 
sportsman's  grit  and  mettle.  Thinking  forearming 
should  follow  forewarning,  Denison  ransacked  his 
caisson  for  the  right  cartridges,  carefully  wiped  and 
oiled  his  gun,  and  whetted  his  belt-knife  to  an  extra 
savage  edge.  He  seemed  to  challenge  a  mortal  en- 
counter, and  to  look  the  defiance  "  bring  on  your 
bears,  now!" 

There  was  nothing  we  were  more  willing  to  part 
withal  than  with  our  water- works  encampment. 
At  two  o'clock  the  flotilla  was  ready  to  cast  ofi",  and 
turning  our  backs  on  the  forbidding  scene,  we  soon 
glided  on  the  current  of  the  Michigami  into  the 
wilderness.     Denison  and    Pratt,  with  the   arma- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  125 

ment,  were  in  tlie  advance  canoe  wLicIi  David  pad- 
dled. We  followed  in  its  wake,  and  in  sliort  time 
saw  our  consort  vessel  rounding  towards  an  expanse 
of  liigii  grass  in  a  bordering  swamp.  Eefore  we 
discovered  the  cause  of  turning  shoreward,  the  shot 
gun  and  David's  rifle  were  simultaneously  dis- 
charged, and  we  saw  a  doe  leap  out  of  the  grass 
and  dash  off  in  confusion,  and  presently  spring  in 
the  air  again,  but  finally  disappear  in  the  reedy  jun- 
gle. A  search  was  made  for  the  wounded  animal,  but 
it  had  limped  or  dragged  itself  beyond  reach.  Only 
four  miles  further  on  was  seen  another  deer  brows- 
ing in  the  reeds,  and  two  shots  were  aimed  at  and 
wounded  it,  for  it  was  seen  to  stagger  for  a  moment 
bewildered  or  stunned,  but  on  exploration  by  the 
Indians,  only  some  stains  of  blood,  but  not  the 
bleeding  deer  itself,  were  found. 

We  then  advanced  a  long  stretch  of  smooth  water, 
in  a  very  solitude  of  calm.  Pratt's  piscatory  in- 
stinct was  incited  on  reaching  a  tiny  brooklet  that 
quietly  found  way  into  the  river,  and  though  it  is 
generally  supposed  that  the  Michigami  is  not  a  trout 
stream  at  all,  to  Pratt's  eye  favorable  conditions  for 
trouting  were  not  wanting.  So  the  canoe  was  laid 
in  at  the  brook's  mouth  for  him  to  try  a  cast.  Al- 
most at  the  touch  of  his  fly  on  the  water  there  was 
a  rise,  and  Pratt  had  the  credit  of  taking  the  first 
and  precursory  trout.  High's  eye  glistened.  Den- 
ison  disarmed.     Their  rods  were  quickly  put  in  or- 


126         TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

der.  All  of  tlieni  rRpidly  cast  in  their  liaclde?, 
and  the  tront  jumped  lively  for  a  half-hour. 
During  this  time,  thirty  of  them  were  brought  to 
grief. 

By  general  consent  the  trout  simultaneously  sub- 
sided, and  gave  way  to  the  exasperating  chubs, 
which  began  just  as  soon  to  betray  their  imperti- 
nent voracity.  The  rods  were  promptly  disjointed, 
and  speedy  departure  followed.  Denison  was  so 
disgusted  at  the  onset  of  the  chubs,  that  the  first 
one  which  tackled  his  fly  was  flung  high  and  far  on 
the  road  to  Jericho,  in  the  woods,  by  the  pitiless 
viffor  of  his  backward  swino;. 

A  few  rods  on  we  turned  ashore,  to  camp.  "While 
the  tent  was  being  set,  I  threw  in  a  bass-line  with  a 
chub  on  the  hook.  A  two-pound  perch  happened 
to  be  swimming  around  on  the  lookout  for  an  eve- 
ning meal,  and  just  in  the  mood  and  at  the  instant 
for  a  greedj^  dash  at  the  tempting  bait.  The  perch 
was  captured  and  landed.*  That  satisfied  my  yearn- 
ing for  sport.  The  encampment  was  high  and  at  a 
bend.  The  river  is  tortuous,  and  turning  bends 
was  so  common  that  Denison  had  a  lively  business 
on  his  hands  in  keeping  trace  of  the  points  and 
courses  with  his  pocket  compass. 

Our  supper  was  a  banquet  of  trout.  These  be- 
ing the  first  of  our  catch,  and  rather  a  surprise,  im- 
parted, perhaps,  a  keener  relish  to  the  dish.  In  the 
after-supper  lounge   and    idling,  Denison    again, 


SUMMER   WAYFAKIXG.  127 

silently  and  apart,  meditated  on  tiie  tlieme  of  the 
kiss  and  melting  ruby  lips,  and  pursned  the  tender 
storj  of  the  lovers  in  the  novel.  Should  Ilawley 
Smart  weave  other  amorous  tales  of  osculation, 
Frank  is  hardly  the  man  to  suffer  auy  of  his  favor- 
ite hand-books  of  the  law,  such  as  "Daniell's 
Chancery  Practice,"  to  absorb  him  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  such  affecting  memoirs. 

High  and  Pratt  entertained  themselves  and  me 
by  fishing  over  again  their  previous  years'  angling  on 
the  Megalloway,  Parmachene  Lake  and  in  the  wilds 
of  northern  Maine,  and  in  the  smoke  of  our  log-heap 
fire  azurely  wavering  above  us,  recalled  the  memories 
of  Whipple's  roaring  camp-fires  on  that  trip.  When 
the  twilight  deepened  obscurity  over  the  pages,  and 
he  lost  sight  of  the  lovers  in  the  shadows,  Dcnison 
laid  away  his  book,  and  found  vent  for  his  inappeas- 
able  vitality  in  practising  gunnery.  He  delivered 
a  random  volley  at  a  bat  that  wheeled  about  in  cir- 
cles round  us,  in  the  waning  light,  and  then  also 
scattered  a'  canister  charge  at  a  fearless  muskrat 
•that  was  cutting  triangular  ripples  across  the  stream. 

When  we  were  retired  to  the  tent,  it  was  formally 
and  solemnly  agreed  that  no  one  should  introduce 
or  talk  shop,  under  penalty  of  a  ducking.  This 
was  partly  because  three  of  us  learned  gentlemen 
were  too  many  for  Pratt,  who  was  not  learned,  and 
who,  though  knowing  little  about  lands,  tenements 
and  hereditaments,   except  the  rents  and  profits 


12S  TKOUTING   ON   TUE   BEULE. 

thereof,  was  not  familiar  with  the  legal  mj'sterics 
relating  to  them,  as  expounded  in  Coke  or  Cruises' 
Digest,  and  beanse  we  ought  not  to  worry  him  and 
ourselves  with  the  vain  subtleties  and  quiddities  of 
the  law,  and  because  on  any  question  started  we 
could  never  agree,  and  there  were  sure  to  be  three 
different  opinions. 

Later  in  the  evening,  the  party  thought  I  rather 
transgressed  the  rule.  I  referred  to  a  curious  case  in 
Iowa,  where  a  mcteorlite  fell  on  a  granger's  land. 
A  dispute  about  this  worthless  product  of  the  upj^er 
regions  was  about  as  meritorious  and  profitable,  one 
would  think,  as  the  suit  about  the  shadow  of  the 
donkey  which  Demosthenes  related  to  the  gap- 
ing mob  of  Athens.  But  still  the  subtlety  and 
learning  of  some  of  the  pundits  of  the  profession 
were  sharply  exercised  on  the  question  whether  it 
belonged,  by  law,  to  the  finder,  by  right  of  dis- 
cov^ery,  or  to  the  owner  of  the  land,  as  an  accession. 
This  reference  was  imputed  to  me  as  a  misdemeanor 
plainly  within  the  interdict  of  shop.  I  protested 
that  it  was  a  meteorological  rather  than  a  legal  mat- 
ter. But  the  preposterous  wiseacres  solemnly  gave 
judgment  against  me.  But  they,  Denison  dis- 
sentiente,  graciously  suspended  the  execution  of 
the  sentence  of  ducking,  at  least  until  we  should 
reach  warmer  water  below. 

The  Republic  blankets  made  High  and  me  bless 
our  stars  for  the  thoughtful  prescience  which  had 


SUMMER    WAYTARIXG.  129 

added  them  to  our  sleeping  kit.  They  were  needed. 
The  air  at  night  was  frost-like,  and  after  High  got 
up  and  grubbed  out  a  protruding  root  over  which 
he  had  been  sometime  unrestfully  turning,  as  on  a 
pivot,  and  after  the  others  in  their  l)lankets  moder- 
ated their  snoring,  we  fell  into  our  lirst  slumbering 
in  the  woods,  and  it  was  peaceful  and  deep. 

Pratt  was  our  morning  harbinger,  and  peep  o' 
day  boy.  He  liked  to  see  what  envious  streaks  did 
lace  the  severing  clouds  in  yonder  east,  and  the 
jocund  day  stand  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain, 
hill  or  tree  tops,  or  whatever  height,  as  Romeo  saw 
them.  Whether  the  eyelids  of  the  morn,  cr  of 
Pratt  were  first  opened,  was  always  an  open  question. 
The  Indians,  even,  lagged  in  their  snore  after  he 
rose — not  long,  though,  for  he  soon,  roused  and 
bestirred  them  to  diligence  around  the  wood-heap 
kitchen  range,  that  breakfast  might  come  soon  apace. 
While  the  cooking  was  being  attended  to,  he  and 
Denison  navigated  themselves  to  the  little  stream 
where  the  trout  were  found,  to  try  again 

"  The  fond  credulity 
Of  silly  fish,  which,  worldling-like,  still  look 
Upon  the  bait,  but  never  on  the  hook." 

They  returned  with  the  inglorious  trophy  of  one 
trout  apiece. 

We  broke  camp  about  nine  o'clock.  A  porcupine, 
looking  like,  and  as  still  as,  a  bump  on  a  log,  was 
seen  sprawled  out  on  a  half  sunken  and  fallen  tree 
9 


130  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

in  tlie  water.  Deiiison  leveled  dead  at  it,  and 
wonnded  it.  We  drew  np,  and  Thebault  despatched 
it  with  his  paddle,  after  its  making  fight.  A  mile 
or  two  below,  we  trailed  around  rapids  which  were 
passable  by  the  canoes  only  when  lightened.  We 
almost  lost  the  trail,  and  jogged  ahead  slowly, 
over  logs,  through  bnshes  and  branches,  a  longish, 
weary  route.  We  had  our  rods  and  baskets,  for  the 
Indians  said  there  were  trout  below. 

At  the  supposed  trouting  place,  the  lines  were 
whipped  in  with  vigor,  and  with  fervor  of  anticipa- 
tion. The  brush  and  timber  in  the  water  were  ob- 
structions to  prosperous  sport.  High  and  Pratt 
tottered  or  scrambled  out  on  uncertain  and  yield- 
ing logs,  and  made  random  casts,  but  with  no  cheer- 
ing results,  except  that  Pratt  was  enlivened  by  the 
surprising  capture  of  a  S23lendid  one-pounder,  seem- 
ingly tlie  solitary  trout  of  tlie  pool.  But  the  chubs 
snuffed  us  as  from  afar,  and  came  shortly,  a  collective 
voracity,  to  vex  our  patience,  and,  after  viciousl}' 
jerking  out  a  few  as  monitory  examples  to  the  spe- 
cies, the  anglers  decamped  in  conspicuous  dudgeon. 

Awaiting  the  canoes  and  the  portage  of  tlie  car- 
goes, we  lounged  on  the  brink.  My  compeers 
yielded  to  the  seductive  biblomania  and  industri- 
ously yawned  over  their  novels  and  lost  themselves 
in  the  mazes  of  the  plots.  Unequal  and  not  inclined 
to  similar  mental  dissipatiun,  I  was  content  with  the 
thoughtless  idleness  of  smoking  and  watchino^  the 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  131 

whiffs  dissolving  aroimd  me,  or  the  ripples  gently 
lifting  and  silvering  on  the  stream.  When  we  were 
again  embarked  and  not  long  under  way,  the  ninch- 
seeing  Kaquotash  distinguished  a  deer  in  a  scarcely 
visible  clump  of  bushes,  and  advanced  the  canoe 
more  briskly  thereaway.  But  he  could  get  no  nearer 
than  within  long  rifle  range,  and  the  bullet  sent 
from  his  trusty  piece  only  served  to  speed  the  deer 
rushingly  oflT  into  the  dense  timber. 

We  came,  then,  to  an  almost  inappreciable  brook 
weakly  filtering,  as  it  were,  drop  by  drop,  from 
some  neighboring  spring,  into  the  river.  It  is  only 
where  the  cold  thrills  of  the  springs  are  imparted 
by  these  veins  of  water  to  the  main  stream,  that 
haunts  of  Michigami  trout  can  be  found  or  expected. 
Pratt  had  his  eye  on  this  tiny  outlet,  and  was  the 
first  to  cast  as  we  rounded  to.  He  had  the  luck  of 
starting  some  lively  rises  for  a  time,  but  not  the 
equal  fortune  of  capturing.  He  brought  in  only 
three  or  four.  Each  one  that  he  lost  seemed  to  him 
lustier  than  the  last,  and.  of  course,  his  complacency 
became  more  jangled  and  correspondingly  out  of 
tune. 

About  six  o'clock,  on  reaching  a  bend,  a  splendid 
sight  surprised,  and  at  the  same  time,  hushed 
us  into  the  silence  of  admiration  and  caution. 
Straight  ahead  were  the  stately  forms  of  a  couple 
of  bucks,  one  of  grand  size,  with  a  lordly  foli- 
age  of   antlers   toweling   up;    his   consort   buck. 


132  TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

also,  not  meagerly  branched  witli  horns,  and  with 
them  a  beautiful  doe.  They  were  in  full  view  front- 
ing us,  grouped  together  in  mid-stream,  a  won- 
drous picture  of  majesty  and  gracefulness,  worthy 
to  be  sculptured  into  enduring  marble,  as  they  stood. 
The  larger  buck  seemed  fixed  in  a  pose  ot  pride, 
as  if  contemplating  his  own  massive  proportions  in 
the  mirror  of  the  stream.  He  and  his  fellow  then 
dropped  their  fronts  to  the  water,  and  gracefully 
arched  them  up  again ;  threw  them  back  erect,  and 
tossed  oflF  the  water  that  showered  like  spray,  and 
again  repeated  the  dip,  and  appeared  as  if  about, 
another  time,  to  plunge  their  antlers,  when  the  big- 
horned  buck  slowly  turned  his  head,  as  if  first  to 
scent  any  impending  or  possible  danger. 

In  the  meantime  our  Indians  instinctively 
crouched  low,  like  tigers  for  a  spring,  and  motioned 
us  to  perfect  quiet,  though  we  already  were  spon- 
taneously and  breathlessly  still.  The  forward  canoe 
crept  on  stealthily  and  slowly,  with  strokes  of  the 
paddles  which  expert  Indian  woodsmen  and  canoe- 
ists only  have  the  knack  of  making  noiseless.  Our 
canoe  was  silently  moving  in  the  wake  of  the  for- 
ward one,  our  eyes  fixed,  as  by  a  spell,  we  scarcely 
respiring,  for  fear  a  breath  even  would  dispel  the 
charm  of  the  scene. 

"  Ah!  what  a  pity  were  it  to  disperse, 
Or  to  disturb  so  fair  a  spectacle, 
And  yet  a  breath  can  do  it." 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  133 

It  really  was  a  scene  too  rare  and  fine  to  last 
longer  than  for  momentary  view. 

Before  the  advance  vessel  could  move  the  shooters 
into  eifective  range,  we  were  sighted  and  scented, 
and  quick  like  thought,  the  group  broke  up;  the 
bucks  and  doe  and  the  triggers  all  went  together, 
and,  with  head  thrown  back,  the  deer  plunged  and 
dashed,  in  a  foam  of  the  water,  to  the  shore,  and 
receded  like  a  flash  into  the  thick  covert  of  bushes, 
"  lost  to  sight,  but  to  memory,  deer."  For  a  few 
seconds  we  were  still  under  the  trance,  and  then 
nearly  all,  simultaneously,  broke  out  in  a  loud  whoop 
of  relief.  Our  boys,  George  and  Paul,  twitted  and 
chaffed  the  forward  Indians  for  the  luckless  fiasco 
of  their  marksmanship  and  strategy.  Denison  was 
sadly  crest-fallen  over  the  event. 

Afterwards,  in  the  camp,  it  was  remarked  that 
Denison  did  not,  with  his  rueful  countenance,  look 
like  the  same  man,  to  which  another  of  the  party 
twinklingly  responded,  the  deer,  though,  were  the 
same  deer.  David's  rifle  fired  no  better  than  Deni- 
son's  shot-gun.  The  range  was  long,  and  it  was  no 
fault  of  either  that  he  was  forced  to  fire  afar.  Except 
in  rounding  a  bend,  and  surprising  one,  it  is  not  easy 
to  get  a  dead  shot  at  a  deer.  Even  in  a  near  drawing 
on  him,  and  more  especially  when  the  range  is  dis- 
tant, the  greater  or  less  oscillation  and  motion  of  the 
canoe  is  likely  to  waver  or  swerve  the  line  of  sight, 
and  make  the  shooting  something  imsure  and  wild. 


131         TROUTIXG  ON  THE  BKULE. 

Kaqiiotasli  betrayed  earnest  meditation  in  Lis 
face,  as  if  pondering  how  yet  to  show  us  something 
in  the  way  of  deer-slaying.  He  steered  us  for 
encamping  to  a  high  bank  with  dense  pines  over- 
lianging,  and  to  this  particular  place,  because  there 
was  a  known  deer  haunt  in  the  vicinit}-.  He  pur- 
posed making  a  night  hunt  with  the  lantern  to 
redeem  himself  and  retrieve  the  mischance  of  the 
afternoon.  And  such  was  Denison's  humor  too. 
His  blood  was  up,  and  his  rage  for  deer  was  now 
inappeasable.  In  the  kindled  fervor  of  the  two, 
we  had  a  sure  forecast  of  venison. 

After  the  cups  and  platters  of  supper  were  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  night  set  in,  the  gunners  held  a 
divan  on  the  grass,  and  arranged  the  strategy  of  a 
dark  hunt.  Denison  tacked  the  lantern  on  his  hat 
so  that  when  the  slide  was  moved  its  glare  would 
shoot  out  far  in  the  abyss  of  darkness,  like  that  of 
a  light-house  signal.  "With  Dixon  and  Thebault 
to  man  the  canoe,  he  vanished  into  the  distance  and 
the  night  up  the  river.  Kaquotash  and  Paul  footed 
it,  through  the  shadows  of  the  pines,  to  a  neigh- 
boring pond  or  lakelet.  High,  Pratt  and  I,  in 
musing  meditation  fancy  free,  the  while,  lay  on 
the  blankets,  wistfully,  and  principalh'  watching 
the  flare  of  the  blazes  of  the  camp  fire,  or  the 
smoke  of  our  meerschaums  wreathing  visible  fra- 
grances around  us.  Our  own  voices  were  the  only 
sounds  that  broke  the  dead  silence  of  the  night. 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  l6o 

We  waited  not  long.  The  report  of  tlie  gun 
was  lieard,  and,  speedily,  Denison  followed  it  to 
camp,  and  laid  before  us  the  trophy  of  a  slain  doe. 
We  hailed  him  with  congratulatory  paeans.  Pratt 
was  enough  elated  to  vow,  and  give  formal  notice, 
that  in  honor  of  the  event,  he  would  next  morning 
decorate  himself  in  the  gala  costume  of  anew  shirt 
collar.  Denison  quite  modestly  bore  his  blushing 
honors,  considering  that  he  never  before  shed  deer's 
blood,  and  though  not  bearing  himself  with  any 
particular  air  of  flushing  or  vaunting,  he  was  nota- 
bly complacent  in  manner,  as  if,  now,  amends  were 
made  for  his  flash  in  the  pan  shortly  before,  and 
as  if  we  were  now  bound  to  rate  his  gunning  at  its 
real  worth.  David  was  less  fortunate.  He  wearily 
and  patiently  scouted  the  margins  of  the  pond, 
and  laid  in  wait,  and  noiselessly  slipped  the  canoe 
from  point  to  point,  but  no  sign  of  a  deer  was 
heard  or  seen,  and  he  was  obliged  to  i*eturn  with 
his  redemptory  purpose  left  for  future  achieve- 
ment. 

Frank's  venison,  when  served  on  the  breakfast 
log:,  was  not  a  tender  viand;  but  as  it  was  the  first 
of  the  kind,  we  proposed  making  an  honest  meal 
of  it.  I  noticed  it  was  not,  however,  until  the  sec- 
ond liberal  course  had  gone  the  round  of  the  platters, 
that  any  one  ventured  absolutely  to  aftirm  that  the 
venison  was  rather  tough.  "We  thought  it  would 
be  ungracious  to  Denison,  and  it  would  seemingly 


136  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

be  to  misprize  tlie  excellence  of  the  meat  and  de- 
tract from  the  lustre  of  his  achievement  for  us  to  be 
critical  about  the  cohesive  quality  of  the  flesh.  So 
we  smacked  our  lips  on  it  as  a  delicacy  and  declared 
the  repast  a  feast. 


CHAPTEK    XI. 

VOCATION  OF  AKMS  AND  REVOLVER  SHOOTING —TRfING  FOR 
TROUT — DRIFT-PILE — TROUT  DINNER — A  PORCUPINE  AND 
PORCUPINES — MARBLE  —  A  CARNIVAL  OF  MINKS  —  P4RT- 
RIDGES  —  FLOPPERS  — A  WINDFALL  —  UPPER  MICHIGAMI 
FALLS  —  MOISTURE  —  LITERATURE, 

We  recognized  Denison's  vocation  as  one  of  arms. 
His  revolver  and  gun  and  ammnnition-box  were  liis 
playthings.  He  apparently  thought  the  best  ser- 
vice of  his  cold  steel  was  its  being  kept  hot  by  use. 
Loading  and  firing  were  his  favorite  diversions. 
Popping  gun  or  pistol  was  a  necessity,  and  if  no 
living  thing  offered  itself  to  his  marksmanship,  a 
bump  or  spot  on  a  tree  served  for  target  practice. 
A  chunk  was  floating  past,  and  he  challenged  me  to 
revolver  practice  with  him.  I  pulled  away  at  the 
chunk.  I  claimed  that  the  ball  had  perforated 
its  centre,  as  there  was  no  splash  of  the  water. 
But  he  and  the  others,  as  his  corroborative  wit- 
nesses, with  one  voice,  declared  I  had  missed  even 
(137) 


138  TKODTING   ON    THE   BKULE. 

the  river  and  shot  into  the  sandbank  beyond.  As 
the  verdict  was  against  me  I  was  at  least  silenced, 
if  not  satisfied. 

When  we  were  again  on  the  way,  Pratt  discov- 
ered a  brooklet  putting  in.  In  the  cool  water  of 
its  confluence  with  the  river,  he  knew  there  were 
the  conditions  of  a  resort  for  trout.  So  the  canoes 
were  paddled  to  the  mouth  of  the  brook  and  halted. 
He  switched  ia  his  fly,  and  whipped  a  nest  of  trout 
into  most  animated  commotion  for  a  brief  while. 
He  took  in  a  few  of  the  leapers*,  but  just  at  once 
the  whole  shoal  of  trout  must  have  abruptly  emi- 
grated, in  a  panic,  to  safer  parts,  for  not  another 
rise  was  to  be  had. 

'No  sooner  had  we  swung  off  and  were  under  way, 
than  David's  eye  discerned  a  deer  ahead;  but, 
though  cautiously  dropping  the  canoe  toward  it, 
the  deer  took  the  alarm  and  went  flying,  so  the  shot 
aimed  at  it  whizzed  a  harmless  errand.  So,  too,  af- 
ter a  mile  of  further  paddling,  we  came  within  view 
of  a  buck  nibbling  his  morning  herbage.  He  stop- 
ped not  on  the  order  of  leaving  his  unfinished 
feeding,  and  Denison's  buckshot  effected  nothing 
but  to  speed  him  to  a  masterly  retreat  into  the 
woods. 

We  came  to  a  gorge  of  drift-wood,  which  looked 
like  the  debris  of  a  forest  chaotically  jammed  fast; 
it  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  piled-uj)  heaps 
and  jagged ness,  so  solidly  wedged  and  massed  that 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  139 

the  floods  conld  not  move  it.  We  trailed  over  the 
carrj,  and  the  boys  shouldered  the  canoes  and  car- 
goes around.  Below  this,  a  handsome,  but  incau- 
tious doe,  stepped  into  the  brink  to  ford  the  river. 
She  caught  sight  of  us  in  time,  and  as  our  appear- 
ance was  not  at  all  pleasing  to  her,  quicker  than  a 
whirligig,  she  turned  tail  on  us  and  went  a  fast 
vanishing  form  of  white. 

Under  the  verdure  of  arching  firs  and  cedars,  the 
dinner  was  served.  There  was  a  carpeting  of  faded 
brown  layers  of  fallen  twigs,  as  soft  to  the  footfall, 
as  a  vesture  of  sponge  or  a  velvet  of  nature's  own 
weaving.  The  ground  was  clear  of  bushes  and 
thicket.  The  spread  of  our  cuisine  was  not  various, 
but  it  was,  to  us,  eminently  sufficient,  as  much  so  as 
if  it  had  been  prepared  according  to  Soyer,  or,  as 
if  it  were  an  inspiration  of  Brillat-Savarin.  We 
needed  none  of  the  sauces  or  condiments  of  gastro- 
nomic art  to  sharpen  appetite,  or  to  lend  to  eating 
a  zest,  and  to  tea-drinking  a  flavor  unknown  to 
gourmets  and  pampered  epicures.  The  catching  of 
a  trout  or  plumping  of  a  buck,  when  one,  himself, 
brings  in  the  fins  or  the  horns,  or  is  a  witness  to 
the  taking  ofi",  greatly  enhances  the  relish  of  the 
fish  or  the  flesh  on  the  dish. 

The  Roman  table  connoiseurs  were  wont  to  have 
the  intended  fishes  of  their  dinners  brought  livincr 
before  them,  just  on  the  eve  of  their  being  put  to 
pot,  that  the  eaters  might,  in  the  courses  quickly 


140  TEOTJTING   ON   THE    BKULE. 

following,  have  tlie  sense  of  freshness  to  tickle  their 
piscivorous  appetites.  The  stoic  Seneca,  a  sturdy 
moralist,  has  severely  noted  and  censured  this  dainti- 
ness of  the  prandial  epicures.  Whoever  has  seen  the 
water  dripping  from  the  trout  as  they  are  taken,  then 
seen  them  prepared  for  the  pan,  touched  by  the  fire 
into  a  rich  browny  crisp,  and  served  at  table,  all 
nearly  as  an  entire  and  inseparable  process,  knows 
the  difference  in  lusciousness,  flav^or  and  delicacy 
between  the  trout  of  a  dinner  he  has  eaten  at  Chi- 
cago, and  the  trout  of  a  dinnei*  al  fresco  on  the 
brink  of  their  native  Michigami.  Such  trout  meals 
on  the  river,  are  something  of  the  luxurious,  to  be 
remembered. 

On  the  afternoon  down  way  we  stopped  to  cast  at 
the  mouth  of  a  stream,  but  a  few  rises  seemed  to  ex- 
haust the  local  sport.  All  along  the  water  where 
there  were  sloughs,  grass  patches  or  swamps,  fresh 
deer  tracks  were  innumerably  imprinted.  At  the 
mouth  of  Fence  river,  which  sluggishly  came  in, 
nearly  hidden  in  a  luxuriance  of  grass,  the  sands  at 
the  margin  were  trampled  into  mire  by  the  count- 
less hoofs  of  the  herds  that  frequent  there.  A 
couple  of  porcupines  were  airing  themselves  on  a 
driftwood  log,  and  immovably  stared  us  in  the  face. 
But  Denison  with  his  unerring  revolver  and  at  short 
range  went  by,  and  they  will  fret  their  lives  never- 
more. The  charges  scattered  many  of  their  quills 
on  the  water. 


SUMMER    WAYFAEIXG.  141 

On  starting  out  next  morning,  Denison  and  I 
took  the  forward  canoe.  At  a  brook  that  ran  in 
over  a  rocky  bed,  the  other  canoe  was  held  np  and 
lagged  for  trouting.  "We  moved  on  ahead,  and  saw 
another  phenomenally  large  porcupine  snuffing  the 
open  morning  air,  and  his  prickles  glistening  in 
the  sun.  "We  bore  down  on  him  at  close  quarters. 
I  offered  him  the  compliments  of  a  revolver  salute, 
and  Denison  tendered  him  the  liberal  civilities  of 
three  shots.  These  amenities  were  lost  on  him. 
With  his  quills  fretfully  bristling  out,  he  scrambled 
off,  unharmed,  up  the  log  to  his  retreat. 

Further  on,  David  ran  us  in  at  a  white  marble 
ledge  on  the  bank.  He  landed  himself  and  knocked 
off  specimen  fragments  for  us.  He  told  us  that  off 
from  the  river,  there  was  a  hill  of  fine  white  mar- 
ble. Possibly,  some  day,  blocks  quarried  there  may 
be  reared  into  palaces  or  sculptured  into  monu- 
mental effigies.  But  as  we  had  no  thought  of  erect- 
ing palatial  edifices  in  the  metropolis,  Chicago,  and 
still  less  of  providing  for  ourselves  grave-yard 
shafts  in  the  necropolis,  Graceland  or  Oakwood,  Da- 
vid's samples  and  information  therefore  failed  to 
warm  us  into  a  mineralogical  fervor. 

But  though  this  geological  formation  was  of  no 
interest  to  us,  a  zoological  display  which  we  wit- 
nessed was  a  jocund,  though  an  exceedingly  fleet- 
ing, entertainment.  It  was  a  hilarious  rabble  of 
minks,  frisking  and  capering  festively  on  the  sand, 


112         TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

squealing  a  inerry  cliorus,  and  in  the  very  heiglitli 
of  frolic  as  we,  unbidden  and  unwelcome  strangers, 
liove  around  a  bend  into  the  midst  of  the  revel. 
Denison  was  as  much  surprised  as  the  minks  were, 
and  though  their  stampede  was  a  marvel  of  dis- 
persive celerity,  he  was  quick  enough  on  trigger 
to  make  one  panic-stricken  mink  bite  the  sand. 
Kaquotash  went  ashore  and  appropriated  the  carcass. 
He  said  its  pelt  was  just  what  he  wanted  for  a  to- 
bacco pouch.  iN^orwas  this  the  only  animal  troph}'^ 
of  Denison.  There  was  a  brace  of  partridges  sand- 
ing their  craws.  After  he  fired  into  one  of  them, 
there  was  very  little  that  was  sandy,  but  a  good 
deal  that  was  leaden,  in  the  demised  partridge's  maw. 
But  broiled  partridge  enriched  our  next  bill  of  fare. 
We  startled  a  flock  of  "  sawbills  "  or  "  floppers." 
They  are  fish-eating  ducks,  but  not  themselves  eat- 
able of  sportsmen.  David  apprised  us  that  this 
family  of  quackers  is  a  numerous  aquatic  nuisance 
on  the  Michigami.  Tliey  partly  run  and  partly  fly 
along  the  stream,  and,  with  their  wings  and  webs 
flapping  the  water,  and  harshly  quacking  as  they 
go,  make  a  boisterous  flight  that  can  be  heard  at  a 
distance.  They  always  keep  in  the  van  of  the  navi- 
gator, and  when  out  of  harm's  way,  settle  down  in 
the  water  until  the  canoe  again  nearing,  they 
scamper  in  another  rout.  The  Indians  predicted 
that  this  our  introduction  was  likely  to  j^relude  a 
frequent,  but  rather  distant  acquaintance  with  the 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  143 

sawbills,  as  they  would  surely  forerun  us  far  clown 
the  river. 

A  pair  of  porcupines  in  the  top  branches  of  two 
neighboring  trees,  looking  like  bunches  of  mistletoe, 
fired  Denison's  ambition  to  fusilade  them  with 
his  revolver.  David's  far-seeing  eye,  which  took 
in,  and  always  before  any  of  our  eyes  had  a  sight, 
everything  notable,  espied  a  mink  frantically  tear- 
ing through  the  bushes,  to  its  retreat.  Its  agility  in 
making  the  run  was  such  that  Denison  could  only 
fire  an  equivocal  shot,  which  harmed  neither  hide 
nor  hair  of  the  noxious  creature. 

"We  passed  a  windfall,  where  a  tornado  had  swept, 
like  a  besom  of  destruction,  through  the  forest,  and 
left  towering  pines,  iirs  and  cedars  prostrate  in  cha- 
otic heaps  and  confusion,  to  mark  its  terrific  devas- 
tation. To  realize  the  utter  and  fearful  havoc  of  a 
whirlwind  in  its  career  of  fury  and  madness,  one 
needs  only  see  its  swath  and  pathway  of  wreck  and 
ravage  in  a  Michigan  pinery. 

"We  reached  the  portage  to  Michigami  fiills  about 
one  o'clock.  Denison  and  myself,  with  our  Indians, 
managed,  by  vigorous  footing,  to  make  the  lower 
end  of  the  trail  just  as  the  heavy  clouds,  which  we 
had  seen  following  darklingly  over  the  back-ground, 
spread  over  us,  and  burst  into  drenching  torrents  of 
rain.     The  shelter-tent  afforded  some  protection. 

0\iv  messmates  and  suite  who  had  but  just  readi- 
ed the  upper  end  of  the  carry  in  the  midst  of  the 


144:  TliOUTING    ON   THE    BKULE. 

sliower,  fared  less  fortunately.  The  turned-np  ca- 
noe, under  whicli  tliey  tried  to  compress  themselves, 
was  but  a  mockery  of  shelter  against  the  merciless 
drench.  In  the  meantime,  spite  of  the  rain,  shortly 
moderating,  the  natives  were  able  to  start  a  fire. 
The  blazes  of  the  roaring  heap  were  cheering 
warmth  and  glowing  welcome  to  High  and  Pratt, 
when,  soaked  and  dripping,  they  stalked  into  camp- 
None  the  less  did  we  pleasantly  greet  their  coming 
ill  because  of  the  splendid  mess  of  trout  which  they 
had  picked  up  on  the  way,  in  the  rear.  They  had 
come  upon  a  family  of  deer,  a  buck,  doe  and  lawn, 
swimming  the  river,  but,  as  they  were  without  the 
necessary  deadly  weapon,  they  had  no  means  of 
creating  a  disturbance  or  a  loss  in  the  group,  and  the 
fortunate  trio  passed  scathless  on  its  way,  admir- 
able as  a  vision,  but  unavailing  as  venison. 

These  upper  falls  are  not  a  very  grand  and  wild 
freak  of  nature,  in  the  way  of  a  cascade;  there  is 
no  precipitous,  sheer  deadfall  of  water  over  an  edge 
or  precipice,  but  the  river  compresses  its  volume 
into  a  narrow  space  between  a  point  of  rocks  on 
one  side  and  a  rocky  wall  on  the  other,  the  water 
pitching  in  terraces,  down  an  incline ;  the  cliff  rears 
straight  aloft,  probably  a  hundred  or  more  feet,  and 
is  heavily  garnished  with  small  stunted  cedars  aiid 
pines;  there  is  also  nothing  striking  in  the  scenery. 
Some  of  the  party  thought  the  basin  promising  for 
trout,  and,  after  the  clouds   cleared   away,  paced 


SUMMER   WAYFAEIXG.  145 

along  the  margin  from  jDoint  to  point,  and  dropped 
in  their  lines  with  the  persistence  of  cheering  hope, 
and  then  skimmed  around  in  the  canoe,  from  one 
and  another  current  or  eddy;  but  the  only  signs  or 
responses  to  the  fly  were  from  the  aggravating 
chubs.  The  trout  there,  if  any,  were  too  wary  for 
the  party. 

No  useless  time,  however,  was  lost  in  tentative 
casting.  It  was  our  fate  to  lie  idly  by  the  rest  of 
the  day,  with  wet  goods  to  hang  over  the  fire,  to 
dry  tlie  tents  and  patch  the  leaks  in  the  birchen 
fleet.  In  the  later  monotony  of  the  afternoon,  the 
literary  fever  rather  vehemently  strnck  us.  In  the 
brilliant  flashes  of  silence,  and  while  the  genial 
warmth  of  the  fiery  log  heaps  soothed  us,  each  one 
yielded  to  the  sorcery  of  the  book,  Denison  was 
absorbed  in  the  "American  Senator,"  possibly 
dreaming  or  hoping  to  be  one.  Pratt  took  a  shine 
to  "Joshua  Haggard's  Daughter."  High  devoted 
his  intellect  to  "  Heaps  of  Money."  I  sharpened 
my  appetite  for  the  coming  supper  of  trout,  by 
reading  of  trout  in  honest  Walton's  pages.  While 
we  were  so  occupied,  the  shadows  stole  on  and 
deepened  into  night. 
10 


^       OHAPTEK    XII. 

SCARECROW  DUCKS— CAMPING  PLACE — EASE,  REST,  ISOLATION 
— A  RAYEN — THE  RIVER  —  LAKE  MARY — NATURAL  PARK 
CAMP — IN  CAMP — PAINT  RIVER — RED  ROOSTER  AND  SQUAW 
— DERELICT  CANOE — THE  FOUNDLING — HARD  NAVIGATION 
— PAINT  FALLS — A  MOUSE  STORY. 

After  the  vesper  meal  of  trout,  the  sawbill 
plague  was  a  prominent  theme  of  indignant  con- 
fabulation. The  pernicious  water-tramps  had  dur- 
ing the  day  verified  Kaquotasli's  ill  report  of  them, 
in  their  appearance,  from  time  to  time,  at  the  front 
of  us.  On  our  nearing  them  the  flock  would  start 
up  and  off,  keeping  to  the  water,  winnowing  it  as 
they  moved  on,  boisterously  splashing  and  harshly 
squawking,  so  as  to  make  them  a  moving  van  of 
scarecrows  to  all  the  game  in  the  woods.  When 
the  flock  preceded  us  to  the  falls,  it  kept  on  in  the 
current  and  swept  along  with  the  whirl  of  the  tor- 
rent, and  reappeared  resilient  out  of  the  vortex 
below,  as  so  many  corks  bobbing  up  from  a  forced 
submersion. 

(146) 


SUMMER    AVAYFARING.  147 

Our  camp  was  so  well  conditioned  by  night, 
wlien  we  were  rested  and  dried,  that  we  enjoyed  in 
it  the  combined  pleasures — ease,  comfort  and  con- 
tent. The  blazing  trunks  of  pines  equally  bright- 
ened and  warmed  us  ;  the  rumble  of  the  falling 
waters  and  the  lulling  murmur  of  the  stream  in 
our  front  made  soothing  music  for  the  senses;  the 
light  of  the  swinging  lamp  enlivened  the  interior 
of  the  tent.  "We  gossiped  into  late  hours,  and  witli 
good  cheer  of  mirth  and  laughter — for  there  is  no 
place  like  a  forest  camp-mess  for  stories  and  fun — 
we  smoothed  the  way  to  slumber,  that  was  refresh- 
ing and  sweet. 

The  complete  repose  of  mind,  with  no  thought 
of  shop  and  with  but  little  of  the  world  or  of  the 
war  in  Europe,  of  the  news  and  life  of  the  day  at 
home  even,  was  the  charm  and  blissfulness  of  our 
scenes  and  pastimes  in  the  far-oif  unpeopled  wild- 
erness. Here  were  none  of  the  pervading  agencies 
of  civilization,  business  and  industry,  with  their 
cares  and  importunities — elsewhere  ever  ceaseless — 
to  perturb  our  mental  isolation  and  quiet.  No 
railway  and  its  rushing  train ;  no  telegraph  stretch- 
ing as  mystic  chords  to  bear  us  thrills  of  message 
from  our  homes;  no  daily  journal  to  mirror  us  a 
life  otlier  than  our  own;  no  presences  to  link  us  to 
the  world  beyond  our  immediate  horizon.  It  was 
this  mental  repose  that  made  our  hemlock  couches 
as  soft  as  beds  of  roses  and  sleep  so  deep  and  re- 


148  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BRULE. 

freshing.  It  was  this  that  made  every  encampment 
seem  a  happy  Arcadia  of  peace  and  content.- 

"We  yanished  from  the  dashing  of  the  Michigami 
Falls.  The  clouds  were  tlireatening,  and  their 
pluvial  omens  were  soon  realities  of  showering.  The 
drops  streaked  down  the  glaze  of  the  ponchos  in 
harmless  watery  films  or  veins.  A  good  many 
puffs  of  foam,  like  great  white  sponges,  floated  from 
the  falls.  The  rain  pattered  the  stream  into  broad- 
cast tiny  bubbles.  A  raven  winged  a  high  flight 
over  our  heads,  and  flew  shyly  and  croaked  spite- 
fully at  us,  as  if  he  were  averse  to  human  society, 
and  was,  evidentl}',  not  in  his  nature  akin  to  the 
friendly  raven  that  fed  the  holy  prophet  with  bread. 

Three  miles  from  the  start  David  espied  a  far-off 
deer  in  the  brush,  and  saluted  it  with  a  rifle-ball, 
which  clipped  the  twigs  close  by,  and  started  it 
snorting  with  fright  into  the  safe  asylum  of  the 
woods.  The  crack  of  the  gun  sounded  an  alarum 
to  our  evil  genii,  the  floppers,  which  scooped  along 
the  water  and  clamorously  squawked  down  the 
stream. 

The  river  swelled  into  wider  bounds  as  we  pro- 
ceeded, with  fewer  rapids  and  shallows,  but  bordered 
with  a  vivid  density  of  forest  and  uniformity  of 
wildness.  "We  were  in  a  silent  domain  of  all  unsub- 
dued n  ature.  The  sprays  of  the  pines  moved  neither 
with  the  gentle  sway  or  tremor  of  a  breeze  or  with 
the  quiver  of  a  bird.     The  scenery  appeared  brood- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  140 

ing  in  a  calm  as  still  as  tlie  landscape  of  a  picture, 
but  with  an  exuberance  of  richness  which  no  pencil 
of  art,  but  only  the  touch  of  nature,  could  produce. 

At  noon,  we  landed  at  tlie  portage  to  Lake  Marj. 
It  was  a  scarcely  visible  entrance  to  a  labyrinth 
of  bushes  and  woods,  the  pathway  of  which  was 
tortuous  and  barely  traceable,  and  beset,  throughout, 
with  undergrowths  that  had  to  be  bent  or  brushed 
aside,  and  made  our  footsteps  tardy  and  weary. 
When  we  emerged  from  the  density  and  touched 
the  edge  of  the  lake,  the  little  sheet  shone  in  the 
radiance  of  the  sun  like  a  glittering  mirror  in  a 
leafy  setting  of  emerald.  The  azure  of  the  sky  and 
the  snowy  clouds  were  reflected  in  its  pure  depths, 
an  imaged  heaven,  each  seeming  the  other,  the  sky 
the  water  and  the  water  the  sky,  without  a  wayward 
zephyr  rippling  it  with  a  breath  to  wrinkle  or  dis- 
turb the  picture.  While  the  boys  were  lugging 
over  the  canoe  and  the  stowage,  we  had  full  time, 
reclining  on  the  grassy  slope,  to  restfnlly  muse  and 
enjoy  the  summer  glories  blended  in  the  scene. 

The  water  was  crystally  clear.  We  thought  it 
must  be  stocked  with  fish.  When  the  canoes  were 
in  motion,  trolling  lines  were  put  out,  but  uselessly. 
The  lake  curved,  and  was  not  wholly  seen  in  a  first 
view.  Around  the  bend,  the  panorama  of  lake  and 
shores  spread  out  more  charmingly,  though  the 
sheet  was  not  a  large  one.  The  stillness  of  the 
whole  Scene  was   impressive.     Little  of  life  was 


150  TKOUTING    OX    THE    BRULE. 

lieard  or  seen.  A  solitary  loon,  moaning  its  plaintive 
notes,  lamentable  as  a  sepulchral  wail,  was  the  only 
sound  or  sign  of  living  thing  on  its  silent  expanse. 

We  made  the  fui-ther  end  of  the  lake,  about  a 
mile,  at  a  knoll  swelling  gently  up  from  the  little 
cove  or  nook  in  which  the  canoes  were  landed.  The 
undei-growth  had  at  some  period  doubtless  been 
burned  out,  and  the  forest  thinned  by  fire,  yet  with 
enough  scattering  green-flourishing  pines  and  firs 
left  by  the  destroying  scourge  for  shade,  and  to 
make  the  several  acres  of  rolling  surface  a  handsome, 
natural  park.  On  the  summit  of  the  lawn,  velvet 
with  carpeting  green,  the  tents  were  ultimately 
placed  for  the  day.  A  rain,  with  repeated  acces- 
sories of  thunder  and  lightning  ripping  closely  over 
us,  copiously  outpoured,  for  a  time,  and  streamed 
do\vn_  the  canvas  roofing. 

Most  of  the  time  during  the  afternoon  we  were 
housed  in  for  shelter,  as  the  dropping  of  the  clouds 
was  nearly  constant.  Ourselves  snug  and  dry  within, 
the  cheap  novels,  at  such  a  time  resources  of  some 
utility,  served  to  relieve  the  situation  of  much  of  its 
dreariness,  and  to  make  the  partj^  unconcerned  about 
the  action  of  the  elements.  The  Indians,  in  their 
tented  lair,  comforted  themselves  with  cards  and 
tobacco.  After  night  set  in  and  the  repast  was 
finished,  and  the  clouds  had  disj^ersed,  the  camp-fire 
cheerily  lapped  the  great  pine  heap  in  jets  and 
tongues  of  fiame  and  we  squatted  around  it. 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  151 

Our  spirits  brightened  in  tlie  glow  of  the  genial 
blazes,  and  the  crackling  of  the  flames  was  out- 
noised  by  the  lively  chatter  of  much-speaking  lips. 
The  forms  of  the  smoke,  fantastically  rising  and 
vanishing  like  spectral  shadows  into  the  night  above, 
were  not  lighter  and  more  varying  than  our  wanton- 
ing fancies.  Memories  of  other  woodland  scenes, 
or  of  wanderings  of  other  days,  were  recalled.  We 
heard  Denison's  story  of  his  mountain  travel  in  the 
West,  of  his  ascent  of  Pike's  Peak,  and  of  the  more 
perilous  climb  of  Long's  peak,  as  well.  Hours  were 
thus  passed,  near  unto  the  witching  time  of  night, 
and  were  made  the  pleasanter  by  those  friendly  and 
ready  servitors  of  all  the  hours  of  some  of  us — the 
meerschaum  pipes.  The  night's  camp-fire  lighted 
the  shrine  of  memory  with  a  blazonry  of  recollec- 
tions delightful  and  enduring,  and,  for  the  time,  at 
least,  paled  the  memories  of  the  firelights  on  the 
hearthstones  at  home. 

The  waking  in  the  morning  was  to  a  rat-tat  of  rain 
pattering  on  the  tent.  The  showering,  however, 
gradually  softened  into  a  mist,  and  finall}^  that  van- 
ished, though  the  clouds  still  hovered  in  the  sk}', 
portending  other  coming  rain.  But  neither  such 
prognostics  of  ill-weather  nor  the  beauty  of  the 
landscape  there  could  delay  us  from  a  quickstep  ad- 
vance towards  attractive  regions  beyond. 

It  is  a  two  mile  portage  to  the  Paint  river.  To 
aid  the  Indians,  each  of   us  swung  some  parcel 


152  TKOUTI^'G    ON    THE   BKULE. 

of  his  own  outfit  over  Ins  shoulder  or  gripped  it  in 
liis  hands,  and  tottered  burdensomely  along  the 
tortuous  footway.  Bearing  these  fardels  was,  with 
some  of  us  at  least,  to  grunt  and  sweat  under  a 
weary  load,  very  unlike  the  burdens  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  carry.  Denison,  however,  rather  plumed 
himself  on  having  achieved  a  prodigy  in  the  instance 
of  his  transportation.  To  throw  our  portable  ca- 
pacities in  the  shade  and  vaunt  his  own,  he  troubled 
himself  to  weigh  in  the  fish  scales,  one  by  one,  the 
separate  parcels  of  his  load.  The  total  pounds 
avoirdupois  were  fifty-seven.  As  the  Indians  made 
light  of  packs  more  than  double  that  weight,  he 
thought  he  would  scarcely  hoist  flying  colors,  or 
very  particularlj''  allude  to  the  sinews  of  Hercules 
or  the  shoulders  of  Atlas. 

By  noon  the  carrying  was  finished.  The  trail 
led  to  a  high  bank  or  knob  of  a  hill,  and  had  a 
cleared  space  for  former  camping.  It  overlooked  a 
broad,  smooth  reach  of  the  Paint  river,  skirted  with 
borders  of  unbroken  forest.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill, 
a  little  brook,  hidden  under  interlacing  branches, 
and  cold  with  the  chill  of  its  supplying  or  parent 
springs,  ran  into  the  stream.  Doubtless  it  was  a 
very  covert  for  shoals  of  trout.  High  and  Den  i son 
must  have  had  an  insight  of  this,  for  they  set  out 
with  rods  and  baskets,  to  find  some  accessible  silent 
nook  or  recess  free  enough  of  limbs  and  brush 
wherein  to  cast  the  fly.     Wherever  they  pushed  on 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  153 

they  found  the  little  stream  impenetrably  guarded 
and  hedged  against  the  art  and  patience  of  all 
anglers,  by  the  density  of  defensive  overgrowth  and 
undergrowth. 

We  had  dinner  there.  Just  while  we  were  taking 
the  last  morsels  of  our  meal,  a  canoe  hove  into  port 
with  a  freight  of  three — a  Chippewa  gentleman, 
barefoot,  and  two  squaws  of  the  same  aboriginal ity, 
apparently  matron  and  maid.  The  ladies  timidly 
looked  at  us,  and  quietly  maintained  their  broad, 
squat  and  bandle-like  position  in  the  canoe,  seeming 
to  imply  that  as  "white  men  are  mighty  uncer- 
tain," they  would  prefer  to  keep  their  distance.  So 
they  remained  and  rode  at  anchor. 

Red  Rooster,  or  whatever  his  name  was,  knowing 
some  of  our  Indians,  and,  possibly  sniffing  in  his 
sensitive  nostrils  the  disseminating  aroma  of  diet, 
intrepidly  climbed  or  hoisted  himself  up  the  hill  to 
camp,  and  began  to  pow-wow  the  natives  of  the  ret- 
inue. Cordial  relations  were  soon  established,  and 
the  Menominee  or  Chippewa  vernacular  was  the 
medium  of  their  voluble  civilities.  One  word  of 
it,  "  now-o-liah^''  or  an  expression  very  like  that, 
seemed  to  reach  a  mo&t  tender  spot  in  Red  Rooster's 
capacious  diaphragm.  We  took  it  to  be  the  Menom- 
inee phrase  for  pot-luck  or  grub,  and  the  Chippewa 
evidently  considered  himself  an  invited  guest. 

He  evinced  a  most  accommodating  alacrity  at 
taking  a  chair,  by  straddling  a  log,  at  the  table, 


154:  TKOUTING    ON    THE    BKULE. 

which  was  a  packing-box  upside  down.  He  was  not 
taking  his  dinner  in  courses,  but  made  a  promis- 
cuous onset  on  all  tlie  dishes.  He  was  not  meal}''- 
mouthed  in  familiarizing  himself  with  the  potatoes. 
He  was  not  at  ail  prejudiced  against  the  Japan  tea. 
A  second  supply  of  it  seemed  beatifjdng.  That 
Indians,  as  some  speculators  theorize,  are  not  de- 
scendants of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  the  havoc  he 
made  in  the  pork  side-dish  was  sufficient  proof. 
His  proclivity  for  the  cooked  hog  would  silence  a 
suspicion  of  the  remotest  kinship  or  affinity  to  the 
Jews.  In  fact,  all  our  cooking  was  precisely  to  his 
taste.  He  showed  what  he  could  do  when  he  had 
a  chance  at  high  living  like  ours. 

If  not  told  the  dining  guest  was  a  Chippewa,  we 
might  have  believed  him  a  Gros  Yentre.  The 
greedy  savage  lost  his  gallantry  in  his  glut,  for 
never  a  morsel  did  he  bear  to  the  crone  and  maid  in 
the  canoe,  though  we  offered  for  them  the  hospital- 
ity of  the  cuisine.  They  knew  our  tea  only  by  its 
vapors,  and  our  pork  by  its  odor.  It  was  all  a 
Barmecide  feast  to  them. 

Red  Rooster  and  the  ladies  were  going  in  our 
direction,  foraging  for  game.  So,  when  we  embarked, 
he  and  they  embarked  and  consorted  with  us. 
He  and  our  men  poled  the  canoes  side  by  side,  and 
kept  up  fluent  guttural  clack  between  the  pushes. 
The  women  shared  liberally  in  the  palaver,  and 
evinced  the  civilized  sex's  fluency  of  speech.     Over 


SUMMER    WAYFAKING.  155 

ill  the  bushes,  David  espied  a  half-concealed  birch- 
bark  cauoe,  dry -docked  in  a  bower  of  leaves.  He 
ran  in,  and  landed  himself  to  inspect  the  treasure 
trove,  determined,  if  it  were  a  prize,  to  condemn 
and   appropriate   it   by  Indian  law,  as  derelict. 

David  and  Paul  hauled  the  canoe  out  of  her  cun- 
ning embosomment  of  leaves,  and  submitted  her  to 
close  inspection.  They  set  to  work  at  repairing  her 
by  smirching  the  cracks  and  seams  in  her  birchen 
sheathing  with  a  glaze  of  resin  and  pitch. 

The  Indian  ladies  stepped  ashore  to  lend  hands 
to  David  in  the  process.  It  was  nothing  to  them 
to  step  out  in  the  wet.  Their  kips  and  Balbrig- 
gan  hose,  if  such  effeminate  trifles  they  had,  were 
away  in  their  far-off  wigwam  domicile.  They  waded 
about  in  the  water  like  ISTaiades,  and  daubed  on  the 
streaks  of  pitch  like  experts. 

I  had  an  interview  with  one  of  the  female  dab- 
sters, who  was  melting  resin  by  puffing  flame  on  it 
from  a  burning  chunk.  I  said:  "  Please  let  me 
have  your  fire  to  light  a  cigar,"  in  my  language. 
She  passed  it  to  me  with  a  mellifluous  "  Ugh,"  in  her 
language.  The  interview  was  thus  short,  but  mu- 
tually agreeable  and  suave. 

Finally,  when  the  canoe  was  thought  water-tight, 
it  was  launched  into  its  native  clement.  We  named 
it  the  Foundling,  to  give  its  history  in  the  name. 
David  and  myself,  after  shifting  part  of  the  load  to 
the  Tom  King,  went  on  in  the  new  shallop.    Den- 


156  TKOUTING    ON   THE   BKTJLE. 

ison  and  Paul  paddled  tlieir  own  canoe.  The 
Dickej,  with  High  and  Thebault,  had  stolen  away 
a  long  advance  march  on  us.  A  couple  of  miles 
further  we  parted  with  our  Chippewa  consort, 
which  turned  off  in  a  branch  around  an  island,  on 
an  exploration  for  muskrat,  mink  and  deer.  Da\dd 
presented  the  vermilion  dames,  who  had  helped  him 
patch  the  Foundling,  with  a  perfumed  cake  of  Bab- 
bitt's soap. 

We  found  the  Paint,  on  but  short  acquaintance, 
to  be  a  hard  stream  up  which  to  run  our  prow.  It 
is  broad,  shallow  and  rapid,  and  but  for  the  Sunday 
rain,  which  drained  into  it  and  overlaid  its  shoals 
as  well  as  speeded  its  currents,  we  must  have  fought 
our  way,  light-laden  as  was  our  craft,  inch  by 
inch.  Even  as  it  was,  in  many  places  advance 
was  a  tedious  scuffle,  and  frequently  David  was 
forced  to  wade  and  drag  the  pinnace  by  the  nose. 
Once,  too,  I  Avas  obliged  to  take  to  water,  to  lighten 
the  canoe  over  shallows  that  were  merely  a  ragged 
and  threadbare  cover  of  stream. 

We  reached  the  Paint  Falls,  though  but  seven  or 
eight  miles  from  our  embarkation  point  on  this 
river,  just  in  time  to  catch  the  last  roseate  flushes 
of  sunset  on  the  water,  crimsoning  it  as  if  a  stream 
of  blood  had  run  red  into  it  from  the  carnage  of  a 
battle-field,  a  glory  of  color  worthy  of  a  Claude  to 
paint.  The  falls  are  a  broad  curving  break,  with 
a  low  rock  formation,  large  boulders  upheaving  their 


SUMMER   WAYFAKIXG.         '  157 

bold  fronts  In  places,  the  water  parting  around  tliem 
in  foaming  currents,  so  that,  on  the  approach  from 
below,  the  cascade  looked  like  slopes  of  ground, 
streaked  and  patched  with  drifts  of  snow. 

The  camp  was  at  the  further  end  of  the  carry 
around  the  falls.  A  space  for  the  tents  had  to  be 
cleared  of  bushes  and  branches,  which  rapidly  fell 
before  the  strokes  of  Thebault's  axe.  Though  a  huge 
drift-pile  was  near  by,  a  gorge  of  pines  of  many 
freshets,  it  was  difficult  to  get  wood  for  warming 
and  cooking.  There  had  been  no  campers  here 
before  us  this  year.  We  were  the  pioneers  of  the 
season.  Pratt  and  High  found  places  to  drop  their 
flies,  and  were  skilled  enough  to  befool  a  mess  of 
fifteen  glistening  trout  from  the  pools,  which  were 
served  in  their  sweetest  freshness  and  flavor  on  the 
supper  platters. 

The  ill-omened  gang  of  Michigami  sawbills,  or 
some  of  their  detestable  kind,  had  forerun  us 
here.  They  disturbed  the  serenity  of  Denison's 
temper,  and,  after  a  bit  of  strategy  for  a  good  posi- 
tion, he  fired  a  hail  of  shot  into  the  flock,  and,  by  a 
good  fortune  which  is  rare  in  the  case  of  this  wary 
duck,  one  of  them  wr.s  killed.  When  it  was  brought 
in  by  the  canoe,  and  laid  at  his  feet,  Frank  exulted 
over  the  dead  fowl.  It  was  the  proudest  moment 
of  his  life,  and  so  forth.  He  took  a  Falstafi"  atti- 
tude, "  there  lies  Percy  for  you ! "  He  has  such  an 
antipathy  against  this  species  of  the  duck,  that  if  he 


358  TKODTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

Gould,  by  one  iiiurderoiis  explosion,  blow  the  whole 
flock  of  these  disturbing  nomads  into  annihilation, 
he  would  ask  no  other  lanrel,  and  would  return  home 
without  again  trying  to  strike  a  trout  or  shoot  a 
deer. 

From  our  camping  fire,  at  night,  the  flames  threw 
up  a  ruddy  glare  which  tinged  the  massive  foliage 
of  the  great  pines  into  illuminated  drapery  of  fan- 
tastic shapes.  In  the  genial  radiance,  we  bright- 
ened, and  the  dark  solitudes  and  depths  of  the 
wood  echoed  the  noise  and  laughter  of  the  camp. 
Denison  related  us  the  thrilling  story  of  a  mouse 
prodigy.  His  office  was  infested  with  mice,  which 
nibbled  and  chewed  his  chancery  tiles,  and  they 
were  too  wary  for  the  cheap  device  of  a  mouse-trap. 
He  charged  a  shot-gun  with  small  shot,  and  laid  for 
the  petty  spoilers.  One  of  them  crept  out  slyly, 
just  in  the  nick  of  time  to  draw  his  shower  of 
leaden  mustard  seed.  He  fired  away  at  it,  but 
the  mouse  slunk  bade  to  its  retreat,  as  he  supposed 
with  a  whole  skin.  Next  day,  in  turning  over  the 
papers,  he  found  the  mouse  laid  out,  defunct. 

The  odd  and  curious  part  of  Denison's  story  was 
that  the  mouse  had  practiced  a  bit  of  surgery  on 
itself  by  having  plugged  a  shot-wound  in  its  side 
with  a  wad  of  paper  to  stanch  hemorrhage!  On 
this  relation  Pratt  simply  ejaculated,  "Well,  I  de- 
clare! "  High  said  he  begged  to  consider  the  story 
as  bordering  on  the  marvelous.      I  added,  "  Frank, 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  151) 

yonr  affidavit  on  that."  He  declared  his  readiness  to 
swear  to  it,  and  as  a  Master  in  Chancery  wonld 
administer  the  oatli  liimself.  High  gave  his  profes- 
sional opinion  that  an  oath  administered  before  him- 
self, as  Master  in  Chancery,  by  himself  to  himself, 
was  a  legal  nullity,  and  he  thought  a  solecism,  and 
he  believed  no  precedent  could  be  found  in  the  books 
to  warrant  such  practice,  and,  in  fact,  such  an  oath, 
in  the  language  of  the  law  of  Wouter  Yan  Twiller's 
time,  was  nix  noot.  As  Denison  was  too  scrupulous 
to  2)rostitute  tlie  important  functions  of  a  Chancery 
Master,  or  to  trifle  with  the  solemn  formalities  of 
the  law,  the  jurat  was  dispensed  with,  and  each  one 
was  left  to'  his  own  meditations  on  the  mouse. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  FOUNDLING  ABANDONED — EARITYOF  BIRDS — MORE  SA"W- 
BILLS — A  PORTAGE — A  PORCUPINE — TROUT  RIVER  CAMP — A 
SNAKE  INCIDENT — A  BEAR  INCIDENT  TOO — TROUT  RIVER — 
PILLARS  OP  HERCULES — PLATS  AND  SHALLOWS — DIFFICULT 
NAVIGATION — BEAVER  DAM — AN  EAGLE — LAKE  CHICAGON — 
— CHRISTENING  OF  LAKE  MINNIE. 

The  current  of  the  Paint  was  so  stiff  that  two  men 
were  required  to  run  the  canoes.  We  could  not 
make  such  a  distribution  of  muscular  power  as  was 
necessary,  if  we  took  the  waif  canoe  further  on.  So 
we  left  the  Foundling,  high  and  dry  in  the  woods, 
for  some  succeeding  party  to  pick  up  and  appropriate. 

The  river  above  the  falls  was  broader,  shallower, 
and  more  rajDid  than  below.  At  many  places,  the 
navigators  waded  and  dragged  the  birches  along, 
and  at  one  point,  all  of  us  stepped  out  and  wetted  our 
shins  and  trousers  in  the  shallow.  The  party  in  the 
Dickey  was  in  the  lead.  We  had  the  tantalizing 
but  useless  privilege  of  seeing  three  deer  wading 
(160) 


suiiMEu  ^vAYFAm^•G.  161 

over,  on  their  southward  emigration  way,  without 
any  means  of  making  anything  but  a  distant  ac- 
quaintance of  them,  for  want  of  guns. 

Denison,  in  our  boat,  liad  a  chance  shot  at  an 
overflying  straggling  flopper,  and  exultingly  slaugli- 
tered  the  flagitious  duck,  and  not  long  after  caught 
sight,  in  the  far-oflT  perspective,  of  a  lively  moving 
buck  in  a  dissolving  view.  Our  way  was  through 
a  monotony  of  dense  foliage  of  vivid  green,  a  very 
huge  wall,  or  precipice-like  mass  of  verdure, 
seemingly  planted  on  the  water  itself,  so  few  and 
scant  Avere  the  patches  of  naked  shore,  and  so 
meagre  were  the  stri2:>s  of  sand  on  the  edge  of  the 
stream. 

Beyond  the  water  front,  all  was  solitary  and  un- 
trodden wilderness.  We  remarked  everywhere,  thus 
far,  the  exceeding  rarity  of  bird-life  in  these  im- 
mensities of  woods.  Few  are  the  "  wood-notes  wild  " 
of  forest  songsters.  The  twigs  and  branches  but 
seldom  bend  or  sway  with  the  pressure  of  plumages. 
The  silence  of  the  forest  is  solemn  and  death-like. 
At  this  season,  even  the  water-fowl  are  not  numer- 
ous. A  kingfisher  sometimes  swooped  down  from 
a  hanging  branch,  to  make  a  scoop  of  small  fry,  or, 
scared  by  us,  darted  from  his  perch  of  observation, 
with  an  angry  scream,  to  a  limb  further  away. 
Ducks  were  yet  unseasonable — that  is,  those  that  a 
sportsman  would  covet  for  his  game-bag.  The  pes- 
tilent congregation  of  floppers  which  heralded  our 
11 


162  TEOUTIXG  ON  THE  BRULE. 

advance,  or  their  congeners,  was  not  wanting.  It  was 
rather  early,  too,  for  the  herds  of  migrating  deer. 

We  had  so  slowly  worked  a  way  up,  that  it  was 
noon  before  we  touched  our  landing-place.  It  was 
a  portage  of  a  half  mile.  It  was  the  usual  trail  of 
roughness  and  narrowness,  of  masses  of  foliage  and 
net-work  of  bushes.  On  the  way,  we  passed  wild 
clierrv  trees.  Of  their  red  fruitage  the  bears  are 
particularly  greedy.  It  was  not  strange,  then,  that 
unmistakable  bear  tracks  imprinted  the  path,  and 
that  there  were  other  signs  of  recent  ursine  presence 
and  cherrj'-tree  spoliation.  Yery  naturally,  there- 
fore, an  emergency  of  bear  could  not  be  thought 
improbable,  and  so  a  look-out  was  kept,  and  the 
armor  of  defense,  in  the  hands  of  Denison,  was 
kept  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  instant  action; 
that  is  to  say,  the  gun  to  shower  buck-shot  and  the 
somewhat  damaged  belt-knife  to  do  the  jabbing  and 
i'ipping  business. 

But  in  our  progress  of  armed  caution  no  beast 
more  savage  or  perilous  than  a  porcupine  was  en- 
countered, and  that  one  was  taking  a  survey  of  the 
country,  doubtless,  from  the  topmost  limb  of  a  lofty 
pine.  Denison  had  renewed  porcupine  entertain- 
ment on  this  occasion,  and  in  the  contest  for  life 
which  ensued  Denison  prevailed,  and  the  porcupine 
dropped  suddenly  from  his  lofty  perch,  in  obedience 
to  the  inflexible  law  of  survival  of  the  fittest.  We 
came  to  an  inexpressibly  paltry  and  dismal  lakelet. 


SUMiIEK    WAYFARING.  163 

or  really  pond,  of  dead  water.  It  had  at  a  distance 
a  sickly  greenish  hue,  like  that  of  the  scurf  of  a 
frog-pond.  But  this  semblance  of  green  slime  was, 
in  fact,  caused  by  the  countless  water-lilies  whose 
leaves  were  spread  ilat,  as  if  drooped  and  prostrated 
by  some  vegetable  epidemic  blight,  and  overlapped 
thickly  like  fish  scales,  We  crossed  this  mess  of 
water  and  lily  pads.  In  the  sand  where  we  landed 
fresh  imprints  betokened  recent  presence  of  deer. 
The  portage  thence  to  Trout  river  was  a  mile  and 
•a  half  of  the  usual  multitudinous  impediments  of 
the  trail.  Though  we  should  reach  the  end  and 
the  night  together,  we  at  once  set  out  on  the  wea- 
risome tramp.  To  afford  us  speedier  and  easier 
carrying,  the  canoes  were  beached  on  the  shore,  to 
be  taken  over  in  the  morning.  The  place  for 
encampment  was  a  dreary,  low,  swampy,  malarious 
pine-flat,  more  uninviting  and  deepened  into  un- 
pleasantness, from  the  gloomy  shadows  of  the  twi- 
light. The  atmosphere  was  moist  and  dank.  It 
was  a  geographical  necessity — a  Hobson's  choice,  a 
clear  case  of  will^^-nilly — that  obliged  us  to  content 
ourselves  with  that  as  onr  place  of  nocturnal  so- 
journ. Trout  river  was  a  few  rods  off.  In  the  last 
leaden  somberness  of  the  day,  we  could  discern  a 
cheerless  outlook  of  a  crooked,  narrow,  sluggish 
channel  of  open  stream,  in  a  meadow  or  broad 
margin  of  ooze,  bottomless  mud,  and  water  lilies, 
where  a  sand-hill  crane  would  mire  in  the  slime  or 


164  TKOUTING    ON    THE    BKULE. 

get  tangled  in  the  thick-set  plant  of  reeds  and 
grasses. 

How  we  were,  in  the  morning,  to  tide  canoes, 
cargoes,  and  ourselves,  over  the  marshy  and  nasty 
morass,  to  the  free  water,  was  a  quandary  of  spec- 
ulation. The  dilemma  had  to  be  turned  over,  for 
solution,  to  the  engineering  resources  of  the  Indi- 
ans. We  had  trust  in  David's  wood-craft  experi- 
ence. He  looked  the  spirit  of  Yirgil's  hero,  aut 
inveniam  vlam  atit  faciam,  and  we  were  confident 
he  would  find  a  way,  or  make  a  way.  It  w^as  im- 
possible, from  the  end  of  the  trail,  for  him  to  get 
directly  to  the  river  for  even  enough  water  for 
supper  purposes.  Access  was  gained  by  a  long 
oblique  of  route  to  the  water,  but  after  much  exper- 
imental patience  and  exploration.  He  told  us  that 
only  by  a  liberal  swing  of  the  ax,  in  some  places, 
and  corduroying  or  pontooning  the  slumps  with 
branches  at  others,  a  way  of  extrication  to  the  river 
was  possible. 

Spite,  however,  of  adverse  surroundings,  and 
first  impressions,  the  blazes  of  the  camp  fire  tipped 
the  shadowing  trees  with  ruddy  tinges,  and  sent  up 
fire-flies  of  sparks  dotting  the  whirls  of  smoke,  and 
the  camp  was  robed  in  a  livery  of  light.  By  the 
time  the  supper  platters  were  set  before  us,  after 
unusual  delay  in  the  preparation,  our  appetites  were 
sharpened  to  unwonted  fineness  of  edge,  and  the 
supper's   eating  was   something  voracious.      The 


SUMMER   WAYFAEING.  1G5 

moral  effects  of  tlie  repast,  as  well  as  the  enlivening 
transformation  scenes  wrought  around  us  hj  the 
brilliant  flames  of  pine,  mncli  elevated  and  cheered 
the  tone  of  the  party.  We  settled  ourselves  to  the 
conviction  that  we  were  not  far  from  being  happy, 
and  could  accept  the  situation  in  much  good  humor 
and  with  exceeding  grace.  We  fell  into  a  lively 
babble  of  tongues,  little  less  than  exhilarating. 

David  interested  us  with  many  of  his  forest  rem- 
iniscences and,  like  another  Scheherezade,  became 
a  narrator  of  Indian  Night's  Entertainments.  One 
of  these  night  entertainments  made  a  sensation. 
It  was  peculiarly  topical  and  ap'Ojyos  in  its  bear- 
ing; it  was  an  incident  of  a  former  camping  party 
at  this  very  spot.  While  the  campers  were  wrap- 
ped in  the  lulling  embrace  of  Morpheus,  three  large 
snakes  crawled  into  the  tent;  one  of  these  wriggled 
over  the  uncovered  shin  of  one  of  the  sleepers, 
and,  as  if  an  elongated  icicle  were  drawn  over 
the  tibia,  with  such  frigid  effect  as  to  bring  him  to 
his  immediate  senses.  The  impromptu  scene  of 
midnight  panic  and  confusion  that  followed,  was 
indescribable.  This  reptilian  reminiscence  had  a 
bad  effect  oh  us,  and  chilled  our  fervency  of  spirit, 
and  induced  crawling  sensations  in  each  particular 
spine  of  the  party. 

"  Be  there  bears  i'  th'  town  ? — they  are  very  ill- 
favored,  rough  things."  Master  Slender's  inquiry 
and  his  zoological  hint  would  have  been  in  order 


166         TEOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

ill  our  camp.  Kaquotasb's  tale  of  serpents  put  us 
in  a  kind  of  cold  shiver  that  the  blankets  could  not 
entirely  warm  away.  To  have  been  surprised  in 
our  sleeping,  by  a  serpent  creeping  in  the  tent  and 
coiling  in  one  of  the  manly  bosoms  there,  might 
not  now  have  appeared  supernatural  or  quite  out 
of  the  course  of  the  fitness  of  things  in  a  Trout  river 
swamp.  But  the  fate  of  being  hugged  to  the 
bosom  of  an  unceremonious  black  bear  !  It  is  not 
easy  to  say  how  nearly  some  of  us  came  to  realizing 
such  an  unexpected  embrace.  In  fact,  in  "  the  dead 
vast  and  middle  of  the  night,"  and  out  of  the  wil- 
derness, while  we  were  sunk  in  the  depth  of  sleep, 
a  veritable  bear  did  loom  into  appearance  and  stalk 
around  the  camp,  crackling  the  dry  brush,  stirring 
the  bushes  and  leaving  his  paws  imprinted  in  the 
mud.  He  ranged  closely  enougli  to  us  to  prove 
that  he  meant  no  good  and  was  on  no  peaceful 
errand.  He  was  smelling  about  for  our  provision 
stores,  doubtless,  with  a  keen  snout  and  watering 
mouth,  and,  it  may  be,  with  designs  on  the  occu- 
pants of  the  tent  as  well  as  on  the  commissariat. 

High  sometimes  sleeps  with  one  eye  open,  or 
was  at  least,  on  half  ocular  watch  for  swamp-snakes 
at  the  time,  and  knew  what  was  afoot.  He  sound- 
ed a  tocsin  of  alarm.  Denison  awoke  rather  con- 
fused, and  probably  having  just  been  dreaming 
himself  a  Laocoon  in  the  coil  of  the  serpents,  or  of 
wrestling  in  the  compressive  grip  of  a  full-grown 


SUMilER    WAYFARING.  167 

nightmare,  and  wishing  to  have  his  grapple  out 
with  the  incubus  or  the  snakes,  was  rather  slow  in 
coming  to  the  front,  but  on  realizing  the  situa- 
tion, reached  about  for  his  trusty  field-piece,  and 
then  remembered  it  was  unloaded,  after  all.  He 
requested  his  bed-fellow,  Pratt,  to  turn  him  over 
his  caisson,  and  for  once  it  was  out  of  the  waj',  and 
not  readily  found.  Pratt  was  probably  somnambu- 
listic,' and  not  conceiving  the  demand,  fumbled 
around,  and,  as  the  first  thing  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on,  clutched  one  of  High's  long-legged  boots. 
The  point  of  Denison's  savage  knife  was  left  at 
camp  Mary  sticking  in  a  tree  in  which  it  was  broken 
off  while  being  pitched  at  a  mark.  For  instant 
use,  there  were  only  the  angling  rods  to  punch  out 
the  enemy's  eyes.  I  tried  to  muster  enough  in- 
trepidity for  the  pinch  from  confidence  in  the  ter- 
rifying effects  of  my  guinea-hen  hat  which  would 
make  it  a  shield  of  safety  against  any  ordinary  car- 
niverous  beast.  Our  defensive  means,  therefore, 
were  uncertain. 

The  pickle  we  were  in  was  a  pretty  one;  but, 
fortunately,  our  Indian  allies  were  wide-awake,  to 
save  our  figurative  and  our  actual  bacon.  David 
was  a  veteran  of  the  woods,  and  was  as  quick  to 
hear  a  bear  in  the  night  as  he  was  to  sight  a  deer 
in  sunlight.  He  had  emerged  from  his  snoring, 
and  tip-toed  out  of  the  tent  with  his  weapon  in 
hand,  and  peered  through  the  darkness,  waiting  a 


1GS  TROUTIXG  ON  THE  BUULE. 

certain  aim  on  the  bear's  closer  approach.  The 
Kaquotashes  are  not  stranp^ers  in  those  parts,  and 
the  bears  well  know  there  is  no  foolishness  about 
one  of  them  when  he  has  his  rifle  handy.  This  par- 
ticular bruin  seasonably  took  the  hint  and  sneaked 
off  with  a  lively  trot  into  the  depths  of  the  further 
darkness,  leaving  our  sustenance  untouched  and 
with  but  a  faint  sniff  of  the  flesh-pots  for  his  pains.. 

In  the  morning,  Pratt  somewhat  gave  himself  up 
to  mild  chairrin.  He  thought  it  an  ill-chance  that 
he  had  not  been  more  broad  awake,  so  that  he  might 
have  met  the  opportunities  of  the  occasion  by  hav- 
ing gone  and  contended  with  the  bear.  Had  he 
taken  in  the  situation  in  time,  doubtless,  he  would 
have  stalked  out,  as  Hamlet  once  appeared,  with  his 
doublet,  and  so-forth,  all  unbraced,  for  the  enter- 
prise, with  stomach  in  it  for  the  bear  but  that  drowsi- 
ness overpowered  his  bloodj-  purpose,  turned  it 
awry  and  lost  it  the  name  of  action. 

The  natives  hewed  and  cleared  out  a  way  from 
the  camp  to  the  water — but  water  thick-set  with 
lily  pads,  and  shallow  over  mud  bottom,  in  which 
the  canoes  floundered  dubiously,  with  decided  ten- 
dencies to  fixed  adhesion.  We  finally  got  out  of 
the  swamp  into  a  flowing  of  clear  winding  stream, 
with  the  scantiest  dej)th.  A  beaver  dam  stretched 
a  little  obstruction  across,  and  delayed  the  passage, 
while  it  was  being  knocked  to  pieces.  A  mile  be- 
yond was  a  tortuous    chain  of  rapids,  where  the 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  160 

water  tmiibled  over  the  stones  in  a  bed  or  ci^tter  of 
a  width  barely  enough  for  a  canoe.  This  passage 
was  so  densely  bordered  and  overliung  with 
brandies,  there  were  so  many  trees  fallen  across, 
and  tliere  was  such  a  lack  of  navigable  stream,  thai 
all  the  j)ale  faces  of  the  party  took  on  a  trifle  more 
of  paleness  at  the  prospect  of  having  come  to  a  full 
stop.  The  situation  seemed  to  be  the  pillars  of 
Hercules  of  our  route,  the  very  ne  phis  ultra. 

While  we  were  driven  to  our  wits'  end  to  see  a 
way  through,  the  Indians  were  not  at  their  wits' 
end,  nor  the  journey's  end,  either.  They  pros- 
pected and  pow-wowed  earnestly,  and  presently  we 
saw  in  their  faces  a  cheery  flickering  that  seemed 
to  say  where  there  is  a  will  there  must  be  a  way. 
So  they  set  to  work,  and,  literally,  made  a  way  by 
picking  out  stones  from  the  channel,  chopping 
limbs,  dragging  out  sunken  brush,  and  lifting  the 
canoes  along,  inch  by  inch.  Our  own  course 
through  the  woods,  by  short-cut,  was  almost  impos- 
sible. Scratches  and  bruises,  climbing  over  and 
stooping  under,  and  crawling  on  and  slipping  off 
prostrate  trees,  breaking  down  decayed  timber,  stum- 
bling against  roots,  twisting  branches  aside,  were 
some  of  the  impediments  of  the  tramp.  Part  of  the 
way  I  took  to  the  water  and  waded  it,  and,  hard  as 
it  was  to  balance  on  the  rounded  and  slippery  rocks, 
and  to  keep  from  tumbling  over,  it  was  easier  than 
penetrating  the  natural  abattis,   and  I  came  out 


170         TKOUTIXG  ON  THE  BKULE. 

ahead  at  the  end  of  the  ordeaL  The  passap^e, 
though  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  direct, 
was  a  tug  and  toil  of  more  than  two  hours. 

From  this  passage,  the  river  spread  out  into  a 
width  of  shallows  with  soft  muddy  hottom,  and 
with  strips  and  flats  of  ooze  and  marsh  along.  In 
some  places  we  slid  through  a  soft  mire,  pushed  by 
the  setting  poles,  which  sometimes  stuck  fast,  and 
stirred  up  bubbles  and  nasty  smells.  While  we 
were  floundering  through  the  quagmire,  a  mallard 
duck  was  reckless  enough  to  fly  and  quack  overhead, 
within  reach  of  a  charge  from  Denison,  which 
dropped  it  near  by  in  an  inaccessible  swash.  In 
the  struggles  of  its  dying  paroxysms,  it  bedaubed 
its  glossy  coloring  with  an  unsightly  stucco  of 
mire. 

The  river  soon  lost  some  of  its  dreariness  by 
expanding  into  a  lake  a  mile  and  a  half  long  and 
nearly  as  wide.  The  entrance  to  it  was  through  a 
jungle  of  reeds  and  grasses,  but  further  out,  there 
was  a  clear  expanse,  that  laid  as  smooth  and  still  as 
the  reflected  azure  in  its  depths.  It  is  called,  at 
least  it  was  known  to  us  as  Lone  Grave  Lake.  It 
owes  its  doleful  name  to  the  accident  of  having  on 
its  shore  a  solitary  burial  mound  that  commemo- 
rates some  kind  heart's  afi'ection  or  memory  for  the 
unknown  dead,  whose  lonely  remains  repose  there 
in  the  unending  sleep.  As  a  mortuary  memento, 
in  the  way  of  funereal  cogitation,  however,  the  iso- 


SUMMER    -SV-ATFArwING.  171 

lated  tumulus  visibh'  affected  no  known  member  of 
our  party. 

We  converged  into  the  river  again,  and  it  was 
again  an  ordeal — trying  patience  and  straining 
muscle  to  force  any  passage.  We  made  liaste  so 
slowl}^  that  tlie  hours  went  on  apace  faster  than  we. 
The  stream  shriveled  into  narrowness  and  crooked 
into  infinite  sinuosities;  the  lily-pads  and  water 
grasses  waved — a  harvest  of  excrescence  and  pester- 
ing friction — before  and  around  us.  There  were 
reaches  of  slime  in  which  we  stuck  fast,  and  no  one 
dared  get  out  to  lighten  or  push  on  the  canoe 
for  fear  of  sinking  into  inextricable  adhesion;  it 
was  easy  to  deepen  the  poles  in  the  mud,  but  the 
pulling  out  was  a  job.  More  than  all,  the  pushing 
poles  stirred  up  from  the  bottom  ooze  and  feculence 
the  foulest  of  smells,  rivaling,  as  essence  of  stink, 
the  combined  fetor  of  skunk  and  assafcetida;  as  a 
nostril  nuisance.  Trout  river  in  places,  in  its  mild- 
est effluvium,  was  as  malodorous  and  unsavory  as 
Chicago  river  in  its  hot  dog-day  exuberance  of 
sewage  and  offal. 

"Not  rarely,  too,  were  the  Menominees  obliged  to 
swing  the  axe.  Here  a  fallen  tree,  with  a  radiation 
of  limbs,  there  half-sunken  brush-heaps,  elsewhere 
a  saw-like  dentation  of  snags,  bade  defiance  to  paddle 
or  pole,  barring  the  way  until  they  vanished  before 
the  strokes  of  the  axe.  The  business  of  getting  on 
was  entirely  too  serious  to  admit  of  fooling  with 


172         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

the  porcupines  we  saw  here  and  there.  Denison, 
though,  was  always  ready  to  pepper  a  flying  duck 
and  brought  down  several,  apparently  just  to  keep 
in  practice, his  wing-shooting,  of  which  he  is  justly 
proud.  Kaquotash  says  that  in  the  fall  this  river 
swarms  with  ducks  of  all  varieties,  and  that  they 
are  plentier  than  the  lilies. 

After  the  gauntlet  of  difficulties  so  tediously 
passed  through,  we  were  brought  to  a  stand-still  by  a 
formidable  beaver-dam.  But  vexation  gave  way 
to  admiration.  It  was  a  consummate  piece  of 
beaver  engineering.  It  extended  about  seventy 
feet.  In  form  it  was  an  irregular  curve  with  the 
extreme  convex  point  in  the  channel,  so  as  to  turn 
the  current  into  a  dip  on  each  side.  The  face  was 
solidly  embanked  with  earth,  sloping  smoothly  and 
evenly  from  the  top,  while  the  mass  of  the  struc- 
ture was  compacted  of  the  most  close  contexture  of 
lo^s,  limbs,  and  sticks,  very  artfully  interlaced  and 
dovetailed.  Its  dimensions  were  such  that  it  must 
have  been  the  work  of  much  time  and  multitudin- 
ous beavers,  although,  for  such  fish  as  could  live  and 
swim  in  the  nasty  stream,  it  was  hardly  worth  a  dam 
to  the  beavers  to  pen  and  impound  them.  Because 
it  was  a  solid  and  fine  specimen  of  animal  construc- 
tion, there  was  no  help  for  us  but  to  unload  the  shal- 
lops, lift  them  up  and  launch  them  over,  and  load 
them  again. 

On    starting    again,  the   further  we  went  the 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  ltd 

harder  the  tug  and  the  heavier  the  drag.  Tediously 
and  wearisomely  we  plodded  forward.  About  three 
o'clock  we  struck  another  heaver  dam  of  lesser  and 
ruder  construction  than  the  last  one,  but  as  it 
marked  the  end  of  our  Trout  river  progress,  we 
were  not  obliged  to  demolish  or  to  surmount  it. 
The  portage  to  Lake  Chicagon  began  there.  We 
congratulated  ourselves  on  emerij-ino:  from  a  slouffh 
of  despond,  and  appreciated  more  than  ever  the 
indomitable  and  tireless  energy  and  patience  of  the 
aborigines.  Our  eight  miles  of  trip  here  showed 
we  were  more  lonor-comino'  than  far-coming.  We 
gladly  landed,  and  a  kindled  and  vivid  log-heap 
fire  soon  clothed  the  over-arching  cedars  with  wav- 
ering draperies  of  smoke.  The  kettle  sang  songs, 
and  never  more  fragrantlj^  did  the  delicate  vapors 
of  Japan  tea  exhilarate  our  senses  than  then,  after 
the  hungry  experiences  of  the  route. 

There,  too,  Denison  just  missed  the  one  chance, 
possibly,  of  a  lifetime,  of  pluming  himself  with 
the  rare  spoil  of  Jove's  royal  bird.  A  majestic 
eagle  furled  his  wings  and  perched  on  the  branch- 
less stem  of  a  tree  that  had  fallen  across  the  stream 
below  us,  at  easy  range,  in  clear  line  and  full  sight, 
and  calmly  turned  his  piercing  eye  on  every  side, 
and  upward,  too,  as  if  "gazing  'gainst  the  sun" — 
and  was  long  enough  there,  in  his  regal  pride  of 
feather,  for  a  pause  of  admiration  and  wonder  on 
our  part,  and  for  our  gunner  to  reach  and  poise  a 


171         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

rifle  at  the  splendid  mark.  Alaekaday!  it  was  his 
mischance  that,  with  such  a  prize  and  trophy  before 
him,  tlie  perfidious  gun  missed  fire,  and,  of  course, 
the  monarch  bird  bounded  up  and  soared  away  on 
outspread  wings,  toward  tlie  clouds.  How  we  all, 
too,  would  have  plumed  ourselves  with  a  quill  from 
that  eagle's  pinions! 

From  there  commenced  the  portage  to  Lake  Chi- 
cagon.  It  was  sliort  and  easy.  The  path  was  free 
and  open.  It  was  through  a  thick  cedar  grove. 
The  layers  of  decayed  and  fallen  twigs,  yielding 
softl}'  to  tlie  footsteps,  were  an  outspread,  nature- 
woven  brussels,  of  rude,  sober  and  primitive  pat- 
tern, fitting'  o-round  for  midnicjht  revels  of  the  fairies 
under  the  moon.  This  carry  led  us  up  to  the  Trout 
river  again,  just  above  another  beaver  dam.  This 
was  the  largest  of  those  constructions  yet  seen, 
compacted  and  interwrought  of  trunks  of  consid- 
erable trees,  gnawed  or  cut  off  by  saws  of  beaver 
teeth  and  tugged  and  floated  into  place. 

From  there,  the  ascent  to  the  lake,  whence  the 
river  issues,  was  about  ten  minutes  of  paddle-strokes, 
and  its  course  was  through  a  wide  marshy  flat  of 
reeds,  lilies  and  grasses.  In  places,  the  river  was 
almost  hidden  or  lost  in  the  thickness  of  the  water- 
growths.  The  passage  of  the  canoes,  parting  and 
bending  down  tlie  serried  ranks  of  lilies  and  reeds, 
left  a  track  behind  like  and  as  marked  as  a  path 
trodden  in  a  grain  field.    Near  the  edge  of  the  lake, 


SUMMER    "WAYFAKIXG.  175 

a  deer  was  solit  irily  munching,  but  it  vanished  too 
rapidly  for  any  gunnery  of  ours  to  put  it  in  jeop- 
ardy. 

Once  out  of  the  river,  we  saw  spreading  before 
us  a  most  lovely  expanse  of  water.  It  was  of  ob- 
long form,  and  its  shore  outlines  were  indented  with 
many  small  bays  and  a  few  bold  promontories  jut- 
ted out,  and  in  tlie  further  sweep  from  us,  two  or 
three  islands  loomed  up,  seemingly  mere  solid 
masses  of  deep  green  color.  It  was  about  four 
miles  long  and  half  as  many  miles  in  width.  The 
water  was  transparently  clear  and  cool,  and  of  much 
depth.  Mackinaw  trout  and  white  Ush  are  said  to 
abound  in  its  deep  and  pure  recesses.  We  had  no 
token,  though,  of  Chicagon  piscatory  life.  Lines 
were  trolled,  but  the  conjectural  or  reported  Mack- 
inaws  did  not  happen,  just  at  the  time,  to  be  in 
either  a  hungry  or  spooney  mood,  and  showed  no 
love  for  the  glittering  spoons  that  wavered  below, 
so  nothing  was  drawn  in — excepting  the  lines. 

David  boldly  set  the  course  of  the  canoe,  in 
which  were  High  and  myself,  straight  across  the 
lake.  Our  frail  atomy  of  a  vessel  iu  that  pathway 
over  was  only  safe  as  long  as  it  was  windless  and 
the  water  was  smooth.  A  boreal  fluster,  far  short 
of  a  typhoon,  or  a  nor'easter,  even  a  moderate  im- 
promptu squall,  would  surely  have  swamped  and 
foundered  the  canoe,  and  probably  have  consigned, 
the  crew  to  the  Davy  Jones'  locker  of  Lake  Chica- 


176         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

iron.  Our  weather-wise  navio^ator  trusted  to  Lis 
Indian  instincts  as  to  blows  or  a  cats-paw,  or  any 
sudden  windiness,  and  High  and  I,  wishing  to 
coujp  cVmil  the  cliarming  scene  from  a  central  point 
of  view  or  commanding  line  of  direction,  preferred 
the  diametrical  bearing.  Pratt  and  Denison,  with 
an  eye  to  a  chance  use  of  powder,  navigated  coast- 
wise, hugging  closely  to  the  shore. 

Of  course,  the  elements  were  favorable.  The  sky 
was  cloudless.  The  lake  was  as  placid  as  if  it  had 
never  tossed  to  the  fury  of  a  tempest;  its  face  was 
as  calm  as  though  it  were  incapable  of  ever  wrink- 
ling in  anger  at  the  buffeting  of  a  boisterous  wind. 
The  scene  was  really  lifeless  enough  to  be  termed  .i 
dead  calm.  The  only  signs  of  any  life  were  the 
occasional  loons,  some  winging  in  the  air,  and  some 
floating  on  the  lake,  and  moaningly  chanting.  The 
edges  of  the  lake  lap  the  very  roots  and  branches 
of  the  forest  that  girds  it.  This  is  said  to  be  an 
effect  of  back-water  raised  into  the  trees  by  the 
beaver  dam  in  Trout  river.  We  touched  the  ex- 
treme end  of  the  lake  towards  evening,  and  in 
the  reflection,  the  beautiful  sheet  shone  like  a  mir- 
ror, as  still,  and  calm,  and  pure,  as  the  deep  azure 
above  it,  and  with 

"Not  a  span 
Of  its  smooth  surface  trembling  to  the  tune  of  sun-set  breezes." 

We  had  intended  camping  on  the  border  of  Glu- 
cagon, though  twilight  had  not  yet  begun  to  steal 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  1  i  ( 

on;  but  wood  for  the  fire  was  reported  as  unattain- 
able; so  we  turned  our  backs  on  the  enchanting 
lake  and  set  ont  on  the  portaoje  to  another  lake,  un- 
named, so  far  as  we  knew,  a  half  mile  beyond. 
After  leaving  the  thick  wilderness  of  alders  that 
bordered  the  water,  the  trail  led  us  to  and  through 
hard-wood  timber,  including  a  fine  maple  grove, 
and  woods  like  those  of  southern  Illinois,  free  of 
undergrowth  and  with  vistas  beyond.  This  was  a 
relief  after  a  monotony  of  pine,  hemlock,  firs  and 
cedars.  We  trudged  the  footway  with  a  certain 
freedom,  and  without  intrusive  twigs  and  branches 
to  prick  or  scratch  us,  or  fallen  tree-trunks  to  be 
escaladed.     The  fatigue  was  nothins^. 

CD  n 

Near  the  end  of  the  trail,  glimpses  of  the  name- 
less lake  were  caught.  When  we  came  to  it,  and 
first  stood  on  its  shore,  the  tinges  of  the  red  sunset 
served  to  idealize  the  crj'stal  sheet,  and  its  acces- 
sories of  woods  and  verdure,  into  a  very  scene 
of  fa?ry.  Its  surjjassing  witchery  touched  some,  at 
least,  of  the  admiring  party  into  moods  of  senti- 
ment and  poesy.  Perhaps  Denison  was  one  of  the 
poetized  or  sentimentalizing  ones.  Doubtless,  a 
sweet  truant  fancy  that  %vandered  far,  or  some 
haunting  form,  rising  out  of  a  mirage  of  memory, 
visible  only  to  him,  and  wrought  of  some  dear 
romance  of  the  heart,  possessed  or  spell-bound  our 
musing  comrade.  For  he  proposed  to  us  that  we 
should  give  the  charming  water  a  fitting  name. 
12 


178         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

With  an  intuition  of  the  common  assent,  he  him- 
self officiated  as  tlie  consecrating  minister  in  the 
impromptu  christening,  and  pronounced  the  name. 
Doubtless  the  name  was  the  worded  theme  or  key- 
note to  which  all  the  heart's  tender  chords  were 
attuned,  and  the  name  was  Minnie!  And  all  of 
us,  in  spontaneous  unison  and  sympathy,  accorded 
in  the  naming — Lake  Minnie!  Even  to  us,  who 
have  no  endearing  associations  of  name  to  hallow 
it,  Lake  Minnie  will  come  to  frequent  recollection, 
for  it  was  "like  a  dream  of  poetry — beautiful  ex- 
ceedingly." 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

FINE  ENCAMPMENT — A  NOCTURNATj  RABBIT — ADIEU  TO  LAKE 
MINNIE — THE  BRULE  !  THE  BRULE  !  — PrATT  THE  "WADER. 
READY  FOR  BUSINESS — CEDAR  CAMP — THE  PROSPECT — A 
DOG  IN  MINNESOTA — PILFERING  MINKS  —  A  DISTURBED 
REVERIE — MINKS — ASSASSINATING  A  SUNK — SUNSET  FISH- 
ING, ET  CETERA. 

The  camping  ground  on  the  brow  of  the  lake  was 
a  choice  one.  It  was  an  elevated  and  dry  situation. 
Some  of  the  sweetest  of  sleep  and  most  grateful  of 
resting  were  here;  and  then,  too,  we  were  almost 
within  hail  of  the  Briil^.  During  the  tenting 
liere,  Pratt  was  wakened  from  very  balmy  repose  by 
an  apparition  of  some  eccentric  animal  of  the 
manor,  which  finally,  to  his  eye,  took  the  shape  of 
a  pronounced  rabbit,  which  had  stolen  into  the 
pavilion  and  was  wonderingly  and  intrepidly  hop- 
ping about,  prospecting  the  situation.  "When  satis- 
fied that  it  was  neither  a  chimera  nor  a  nondescript 
perilous  beast,  but,  in  fact,  was  an  actual  leporine 
(179) 


ISO  TKOUTING    ON   THE    BKULE. 

creature,  Pratt  thought  it  a  favorable  occasion  for 
a  nocturnal  study  in  natural  history,  and  indulged 
the  sauc}^  rabbit  the  full  freedom  of  the  tent  unmo- 
lested, so  that  he  might  take  his  observations.  The 
presumptuous  puss,  finding  only  a  stubble-field  of 
unsliaved  faces  lying  around,  presently  trotted  out 
and  back  to  its  burrow. 

Some  of  us  thought,  however,  when  told  of  the 
incident,  that  it  was  probably  a  hare-brained  con- 
ceit, a  mere  phantom-rabbit  or  a  fantastic  coinage 
of  distempered  sleep,  caused  by  the  excessive  pork, 
potatoes  and  fried  corn-dodgers  of  a  late  supper,  or 
one  of  those  spectral  "  shapes  that  haunt  Thought's 
wilderness."  But  Pratt  vehemently  repelled  the 
phantasmagoria  theory,  and  avouched  it  a  veritable 
and  categorical  rabbit,  indigenous  to  the  soil  of  that, 
and  not  an  illusion  of  Thought's,  wilderness.  He 
protested  that  he  was  not  fooled  of  his  own  senses, 
and  that  rabbit  will  be  an  immutable  article  of  his 
faith  until  his  dying  day. 

Wc  started  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
paddled  with  metaphorical  flying  colors,  cheerily 
and  exultingly,  as  if  our  barks  were  similitudes  of 
that  in  Cole's  Yoyage  of  Life,  which  coursed  buoy- 
antly, "  with  Youth  at  the  helm,  and  Pleasure  at 
the  prow."  Every  stroke  of  the  paddle  moved  us 
so  much  nearer  to  the  Brule,  and  with  our  faces 
turned  thitherward,  we  lingered  not  in  our  parting 
with  the  pure  and  beauteous  Lake  Minnie.     Our 


SUMMER   WATFARmG.  181 

footsteps  were  quicker,  our  spirits  were  more  bound- 
ing, and  the  trudge  over  was  easier  and  more  will- 
ing than  those  of  any  previous  march  afoot.  When 
we  strained  the  sight  to  peer  ahead,  and  caught 
glimpses  of  the  stream  through  the  forest,  and 
heard  the  murmurs  of  the  water,  and  then  descended 
to  the  foot  of  the  hill  at  the  river  brink,  we  could 
fancy  something  of  the  thrill  of  the  Greeks,  on  the 
return  from  their  far  expedition,  at  the  first  sight  of 
the  longed-for  scene,  in  their  gladsome  shout,  "  The 
sea!  the  sea!"  So  from  us,  there  was  a  vociferous 
impromptu  of  "The  Brule!  The  Brule!" 

"While  the  Indians  were  on  the  portage  with  the 
canoes  and  stores,  we  had  leisure  for  overhauling  the 
tackle,  as  well  as  for  musing,  lounging,  smoking  and 
resting.  But  such  was  the  ardor  of  Pratt's  pisca- 
torial impetuosity,  an  apparent  emotional  insanity, 
to  forestall  the  sport,  that  though  the  river  at  that 
point  offers  no  tempting  prospects  for  fishing,  his 
vehemence  could  not  abide  the  delay  of  the  canoe  to 
carry  him,  but  he  rolled  up  his  antique  trowsers,  and 
intrepidly  went  in  on  his  shanks.  lie  waded  and 
splurged  about  promiscuously  in  the  stream,  which 
split  and  curled  into  rifiles  around  liis  legs,  as  he 
moved  or  stood.  Thereby  he  took  a  half  dozen  un- 
wary trout,  but  probably  terrorized  ail  tlie  others 
thereabouts.  High,  doubtless,  was  somewhat  in- 
fected with  Pratt's  fever,  but  lie  preferred  to  indulge 
his  more  calculating  and  better  regulated  avidity 


182  TKOUTING  ON  TUE  BKULE. 

dry-sliod.  He  struggled  along  tlie  bank,  and  chose 
a  foothold  on  a  stranded  log,  whence,  with  spend- 
tlirift  prodigalit}^,  he  thrashed  away  with  his  rod 
and  line  some  time,  but  with  only  a  single  trout- 
ling  captured.. 

High  took  this  pitiful  outcome  with  stoic  calm- 
ness, and  fell  back  on  his  blanket  and  literature. 
Denison  sensibly  utilized  the  spare  time  by  stretch- 
ing out  in  the  shade,  and  snoozing  innocently  but 
not  quite  silently.  I  paid  blissful  tribute  of  greet- 
ing to  the  river  of  trout,  and  to  the  winds  and  skies 
that  had  graciously  prospered  us  nearly  all  the  way, 
in  liberal  oblations  of  burning  incense  of  Havana 
from  the  meerschaum.  Now  that,  like  far-come 
Argonauts  within  sight  of  the  golden  fleece,  our 
goal  was  at  hand,  and  we  could  speedily  reach 
out  the  hand  and  grasp  the  prize,  we  were  content 
and  tranquil.  At  eleven  o'clock,  the  flotilla  and  its 
lading  were  in  order  for  setting  out  for  business. 
We  stepped  in,  and  then  were  joyously  "afloat,  afloat 
on  the  dark  rolling  tide  "  of  the  Brule. 

The  limpid  current^  ran  either  gurgling  music- 
ally over  tlie  shallows,  or  purling  into  eddies  round 
an  up-reared  boulder,  or  shivering  into  sparkling 
ripples  of  tumult  and  riot  on  the  rapids,  or  smooth- 
ing and  lapsing  into  a  reach  of  midsummer  languor 
and  faintness,  but  always  pure,  fresh  and  living, 
bearing  in  their  forest-shaded  course  the  chillness  of 
the  springs  and  founts  that  fed  them  so  unattemp- 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  183 

ered  of  tlxe  sun  as  to  give  always  a  grateful  draught 
for  tliirst  when  dipped  in  the  drinking-cup.  This 
was  the  Brule  of  our  first  experience — everywhere 
gravelled,  rocky  and  bouldered,  the  very  exclusive 
haunt  and  realm  of  trout,  not  like  the  Michigami 
or  the  Trout  or  Paint,  with  chubs  and  perch  ming- 
ling in  the  population  of  fins. 

AVe  could  now  halt  the  pinnaces,  almost  at  any 
place,  from  time  to  time,  and  were  sure  of  a  liberal 
spoil;  and,  after  holding  up  for  some  of  these  in- 
terim casts,  we  had  gradually  and  idly  sauntered  to 
a  point  estimated  to  be  about  twenty-eight  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  we  prospected 
A  most  eligible  camping  place.  It  was  on  a  bank, 
embowered  by  a  grove  of  largest  cedars  and  pines, 
with  gentle  slopes  of  surface,  free  of  troublesome 
undergrowth,  the  ground  velveted  and  elastic  with 
layers  of  twigs,  with  abundant  shade,  plenty  of  fuel 
and  a  wealth  of  Iiemlock  boughs  for  the  ground- 
sj)read  of  the  tents.  We  named  it  Cedar  Camp. 
We  expected  to  make  it  a  stopping  place  for  two 
or  three  days,  and  could  saUy  out  from  it  up  and 
down,  and  range  all  the  pools  and  lishing  places 
within  easy  reach.  We  could  run  the  canoes  light 
and  quickl}',  and  flit  about  at  will. 

The  sport  began  auspiciously,  A  little  over  an 
hour's  tin-owing  produced  a  count  of  fifty,  and, 
richly  tinted  and  embrowned  with  the  touches  of 
the  flame,  they  bountifully  garnished    the  dinner 


184         TRODTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

platters  in  less  than  an  hour,  and  ministered  hixu- 
riouslj  to  -waiting  appetites.  Tlie  two  hours  follow- 
ing the  feast  were  spent  in  camp  in  rarious  modes 
of  indolent  and  trivial  leisure  and  laziness.  No 
exertion  more  serious  than  that  of  fittine:  a 
ring  on  a  rod,  or  burnishing  a  reel,  or  charging  and 
fumigating  with  a  pipe,  or  shifting  a  position  on  a 
blanket  from  an  intrusion  of  the  sun,  was  suffered 
to  perturb  the  ease  and  delicious  torpor  of  the  sit- 
uation. 

Toward  evening  piscatorial  aspirations  revived. 
High  and  Pratt  went  below,  and  Denison  and  I 
breasted  the  tide  upwardly.  The  fishing  was  of  the 
best.  To  cast  a  fly  upon  the  water  was  nearly  a  cer- 
tainty of  enticing  a  trout.  In  the  first  half-hour 
out,  we  could  forecast  the  whole  story  of  the  sport 
on  the  Brule.  It  was  only  to  hold  at  any  chance 
spot,  to  find  that  our  lines  would  be  cast  in  places 
pleasant  for  us.  The  throw  on  the  one  side  or  the 
other,  from  the  canoe,  was  equally  lucky.  The 
trout  appeared  populous  in  every  direction.  Rises 
were  bewilderingly  plentiful.  We  needed  recon- 
noisance  but  a  short  way  from  the  camp  to  find  the 
swimmers  in  force  and  voracity.  So  we  soon  re- 
turned with  laden  baskets,  and  turned  over  the 
abundance,  or  rather,  the  sup])lies  brought  in,  to 
the  cooks;  for  the  surplus,  beyond  the  needs  of  the 
fry,  was  tossed  back  into  the  water.  At  suppei', 
we  all  expressed  regrets   that  it  was   not  in  our 


SUM3IER   "SVAYFARING.  185 

power  to  bestow  on  friends  at  home,  part  of  tlie 
excess  of  our  lavish  supply.  But  here,  as  else- 
where, and  otherwise,  one  man's  waste  is  another 
man's  want. 

Denison  here  evinced  symptoms  of  a  Minnesota 
chicken-shooting  fever.  He  had  arranged  at  Chi- 
cago to  meet  a  friend  for  a  gun-and-dog  ramble 
for  prairie  hens.  Shooting  on  the  wing  is  his  spec- 
iality. He  would  prefer  dropping  a  few  brace  of 
pinnated  grouse,  on  the  rise,  even  to  knocking  a 
deer  off  its  pegs.  He  had  forwarded,  in  custody  of 
the  American  express  company,  his  retriever, 
Dick,  in  bond,  to  Minnesota.  Probably  the  faithful 
dog  had  already  chafed  impatiently  in  his  chain, 
and  howled  over  his  unfriended  coercion  in  the 
leash,  or  had  piteously  bayed  the  moon  for  the  lack 
of  a  job  more  suited  to  his  training,  and  was, 
doubtless,  then  eaojerlv  snuffinor  all  the  airs  that 
blow  in  those  windy  latitudes  for  a  scent  of  his 
master's  coming.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time 
when  Denison  would  follow  his  thoughts  to  the  dog 
and  the  grouse. 

Our  dash  for  trout  was  not  so  eager,  now  that 
they  swam  closely  and  superfluously.  We  slept 
late  in  the  morning,  and  were  not  embarked  for  a 
take  of  a  dinner  mess  before  ten  o'clock.  Duriuo' 
the  night  the  minks  played  a  sneak-thief  game  on 
us,  by  pilfering  every  trout  from  the  fisli-pans,  and, 
in  the  few  score  of  dressed  fish,  they  laid  by,  in  one 


186  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

night's  fat  work  of  theft,  in  their  neighboring  hole, 
a  gorge  of  trout,  for  a  prolonged  gluttinous  satur- 
nalia of  feasting.  We  were,  therefore,  troutless  for 
breakfast,  and  to  avenge  the  wholesale  sack  and 
plunder,  it  was  resolved  that  dead-falls  should  be 
set  for  the  scurvy  pillagers.  So  traps  were  con- 
structed and  placed  by  the  Indians,  and,  from  the 
first  of  the  next  catch  of  trout,  the  most  luscious 
and  plump  of  the  capture  were  affixed  to  the  triggers. 
We  gloated  with  much  satisfaction  on  imagined 
minks  entrapped,  and  fancied  we  should  certainly 
see  "  with  gripe  tenacious  held,  the  felons  grin  and 
struggle,  but  in  vain." 

When  we  next  went  out  the  trout  were  lively  in 
their  jumping  to  the  throw,  but  they  were  less 
keen  to  take  the  fly.  It  seemed  more  in  sport  than 
in  hunger  that  they  leaped  and  leaped  again ;  at  all 
events,  we  were  not  brilliantly  successful.  Only 
forty  were  caught  by  the  whole  party ;  but  as  enough 
was  as  good  as  a  feast,  or  for  a  feast,  and  having 
such  a  reasonable  catch,  we  spent  only  an  hour  on 
the  water.  This  essay  of  the  rods  exhausted,  lor 
the  time,  the  party's  vim.  Tiring  of  killing  trout, 
we  devoted  all  our  capacity  of  sloth  to  the  problem 
of  killing  time  indolently  and  inertly.  We  drows- 
ily sat  or  reclined  in  the  shade  sunk  in  languor;  we 
were  not  up  to  the  mark  of  the  usual  dinner  gusto. 
After  the  somewhat  insipid  repast,  we  betook  our- 
selves to  the  tent  for  a  siesta:  but  swarms  of  buz- 


SUMMEK   WAYFAKI^'G.  187 

zing  house-flies  huugrilj'  pricked  us  and  drove  us 
out. 

High  betook  himself  to  a  mammoth  cedar  and 
supported  it  bj  leaning  against  its  mossy  roots,  in 
its  shade,  as  serenely  as  Tityrus  recuhans  under  the 
beech  tree,  an  impersonation  of  goneness  and  con- 
tent, and  was  apparently  lapsing  into  a  deep  reverie. 
A  couple  of  minks,  possibly  in  a  freak  of  hilarity 
over  their  rich  nocturnal  plunder,  scampered  near 
by  him  playfully  gamboling  and  squealing,  and 
startled  him  from  his  meditation.  This  vivacity 
was  a  saucy  presumptuousness  provoking  and  great 
enough,  on  the  instant,  to  rouse  Denison's  martial 
dander.  He  seized  his  gun  and  reconnoitered  the 
bushes  on  tiptoe.  Several  minutes  of  fruitless  watch- 
ing cooled  down  his  indignant  fervency,  and,  dis- 
arming, he  became  a  peaceable  citizen  again. 
Pratt's  dudgeon,  on  account  of  the  raeagreness  of 
the  matinal  repast  caused  by  the  felonious  ravages 
of  the  minks,  had  not  even  yet  subsided.  He, 
therefore,  armed  and  posted  himself  in  the  bushes 
with  a  finger  on  the  trigger  ready  to  execute  san- 
guinary justice.  He  stood  guard  patiently,  so.  long 
too,  in  his  watching  and  biding  his  time,  as  to  sat- 
isfy us  that  patience  was  one  of  his  cardinal  virtues. 

This,  his  virtue,  like  virtue  generally,  finally 
proved  its  own  reward.  One  of  the  minks  fur- 
tively poked  his  head  out  of  the  hole  to  take  a  sly 
look  around.     Of  the  same  head  nothing  more  was 


188  TKOUTING   ON   THE  "bKULE. 

ever  known,  either  bj  the  mink  or  the  man.  Witli- 
out  any  official  report  from  Pratt,  we  knew  the 
eifect  of  the  shot  by  the  smell  that  was  instantly 
wafted  into  all  the  noses  in  the  camp.  When  the 
Indians  skinned  and  dismembered  the  mink  in  a 
jpost  mortem  examination,  our  sense  of  retributive 
justice  was  satisfied  when  a  trout  mess  was  found 
in  the  villain's  viscera.  In  the  sunset,  we  made 
brief  essay  with  the  rods.  It  was  a  stirring  time, 
and  our  lines  were  kept  musically  whizzing  in  a 
shower  of  casts,  when  the  flies  pattered  like  rain- 
drops. 


CHAPTEE    XV. 

THE  DEAD-FALL — A  PORCUPINE  GORMANDIZER — TRIALS  OP  A 
TROUTER — PATIENCE  AND  NOT  PROFANITY — LITTLE  BRULE 
FALLS — DENISON's  DOG — A  THREATENED  DUCKING — SUN- 
DAT  AIRS — PRATT  AND  THE  MINKS  AGAIN — NEW  CAMP — 
BOOT  LAKES — KAQUOTASh's  REMINISCENCES — A  PINE  RIVER 
BEAR  ADVENTURE. 

The  schemes  of  Indians,  as  well  as  of  men  and 
mice,  "gang  aft  aglee."  Kaquotasli's  well-laid 
deadfall,  lusciously  set  with  trout,  was  a  failure  by 
a  large  majority.  Pratt's  sliot  demoralized  the 
minks,  and,  if  they  ventured  out  of  their  holes  and 
hiding  places,  it  was  only  on  the  sly,  and  the  crafty 
stealers  gave  the  snare  a  wide  berth;  they  were, 
doubtless,  plethoric  with  a  gorge  of  feasting  on 
their  pillage  of  the  night  before,  and  they  could 
afford  to  turn  up  their  cunning  noses  and  wag  tails 
of  contempt  at  the  solitary  sahno  fontinalis  im- 
paled in  the  dead-fall.  The  early  riser,  though, 
surprised  a  happy  porcupine  squatted  on  the  keel 
(189) 


190  TROUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

of  an  upturned  canoe,  exercising  his  jaws  in  brows- 
ing on  a  packing  strap;  he  had  already  gnawed  it 
lamentably,  and  if  not  then  canght  in  his  chew, 
would  probably  have  devoured  the  whole  leather. 
He  made  off  and  retreated  with  some  alacrity,  for 
one  of  his  kind,  up  a  tree.  It  was  not  with  malice 
aforethought  or  in  a  mood  of  blood-thirstiness,  but 
as  a  matter  of  strict  justice  that  his  life  was  made 
to  pay  the  forfeit,  though  five  revolver  shots  were 
required  to  give  him  a  retributory  quietus. 

Unluckily  Denison,  while  in  a  high  tide  of  pros- 
perous angling,  fractured  his  rod  in  two  places.  He 
preserved  an  exemplary  degree  of  equanimitj''  over 
the  casualty.  If  any  one  thinks  it  is  not  a  per- 
turbing contretemps,  or  a  strain  on  the  temper,  to 
snap  a  rod,  or  by  a  luckless  fling  to  twine  the 
hackle  into  a  limb,  or  tangle  and  kink  the  oil-silk 
line,  or  foul  it  with  the  other  fellows'  line,  or  lose 
a  leader,  just  when  the  sport  is  in  full  play  and 
the  trout  are  skipping  and  flurrying  the  liveliest, 
he  knows  but  little  of  an  angler's  mishaps  and  of 
the  trials  and  contingencies  that  await  him.  No 
one  has  more  frequent  occasion  for  the  exercise  of 
all  Christianly  patience  and  forbearance  than  each 
of  the  eager  sportsmen  in  a  canoe  cracking  whips 
of  rod  and  line  in  a  trout  stream. 

It  is  a  tolerably  well  disciplined  temper  that  can 
steady  itself  evenly,  and  maintain  composure  and 
patience  during  a  recurrence  of   such  provoking 


8UMMEK    AVAYFARING.  191 

casualties,  and  leave  the  trouter  nnraoved,  so  that 
he  can  as  "a  man  whose  blood  is  warm  within, 
sit  like  his  grandsire  cut  in  alabaster."  A  good 
many  of  his  disciples  may  remember  Walton's  ad- 
vice to  anglers  — "  Be  patient,  and  forbear  swear- 
ing, lest  they  be  heard  and  catch  no  fish."  The 
teaching  is  good,  but  it  is  not  every  one  wlio  has 
the  grace  to  heed  it.  Denison,  however,  was  guilt- 
less of  imprecations,  and,  like  a  disarmed  soldier, 
useless  in  the  field,  retired  quietly  to  the  rear.  He 
and  Pratt  evinced  both  tlieir  skill  and  patience 
in  tinkering  up  and  mending  the  fractures;  they  did 
it  so  neatly  and  successfully,  that  they  protested 
the  rod  was  really  better  than  before,  and  it  seemed, 
in  fact,  to  verify  the  claim,  and  I  seriously  doubted 
if  I  had  not  better  smash  my  own  rod,  and  let  them 
make  it,  too,  better  than  it  was  in  its  first  estate., 

Reluctantly  we  struck  the  tents  and  left  Cedar 
Camp,  the  most  pleasant  of  our  green-wood  homes. 
On  the  downward  way,  we  halted  at  points  to  fish; 
the  trout  leaped  briskly,  and  at  more  than  one  of 
the  stoppages,  we  were  busied  to  unhook  the  cap- 
tured. Tlie  sport  was  an  embarrass  du  richesses  of 
which  the  most  ardent  of  the  party  began  to  tire. 
In  the  hour  and  a  half  of  actual  casting  in  these 
random  exploits,  a  hundred  and  thirty  were  taken. 
Some  of  the  trout  are  voracious;  one  that  Pratt 
caught  had  been  chewing  a  cud  of  fish,  for  a  smaller 
one  was  in  his  throat  not  wholly  swallowed.    Along 


192  TKOUTINa  ON  THE  BRULE. 

a  considerable  stretch  the  trees,  on  both  sides, 
seemed  nearly  all  to  ]iav6  fallen  or  grown  into  or 
toward  each  other,  across  the  stream,  as  if  in  a 
friendly  embrace  of  limbs,  and  it  was,  sometimes, 
a  close  and  nice  oj3eration  for  us  to  pass  through 
and  under  the  intertwinins;  arches  of  rich  foliao'e. 
This  overreaching  forest  tapestry  only  partially 
sheltered,  us  from  the  pourings  of  a  heavy  thunder 
shower,  whose  flying  squadrons  of  cloud  swept 
over  us. 

When  the  massive  columns  of  the  storm  had 
charged  past,  we  laid  in  at  Little  Brule  Falls,  to 
dry  and  to  dine.  We  were  in  the  full  reality  of  the 
piscatorial  condition  named  in  the  proverb  of  a 
fisherman's  luck — wet  breeches  and  a  hungry  stom- 
ach. As  if  almost  a  work  of  magic,  a  camp  fire 
was  ablaze  with  many  tongues  of  flame  and  curls 
of  smoke,  so  that  the  evaporation  of  our  costumes 
and  the  process  for  the  dinner  went  well  on  apace. 
When  the  kettle  bubbled  and  the  trout  were  fried, 
we  plied  the  cups  and  forks  with  a  relish  and  a  will 
few  diners  and  lunchers  in  the  city  ever  realize. 
We  felt  princely  afrer  resting  and  dining.  Perhaps 
Deuison  was  an  exception  to  the  general  condition 
of  beatitude;  he  seemed  a  shade  pensive,  possibly 
from  reveries  about  Dick  the  dog  in  Minnesota,  or 
perchance  some  object  dearer,  at  Chicago  or  else- 
where. We  had  the  customary  early  afternoon 
lounge.     I  enjoyed  the  situation  simply  by  lying 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  193 

at  rest,  watching  the  quivering  of  the  leaves,  list- 
ening to  the  chattering  of  the  red  squirrels  or  the 
lulling  music  of  the  water  foaming  over  the  rocks. 

Tlie  falls,  so-called,  are  an  insignificant  pitch  of 
the  river,  a  few  feet  over  ledges  of  rock;  thej  are 
something  of  precipitous  rapids,  rather  than  a  cas- 
cade. Toward  evening  when  the  canoes  were  manned 
for  fishing,  the  one  carrying  High  and  Penison, 
lurched  into  a  swirl  near  the  drop  of  the  falls,  and 
was  nearly  sucked  under,  sliipped  water  consider- 
ably and  seemed  on  the  verge  of  swamping;  but 
Paul  was  just  quick  and  skillful  enough,  by  a  mas- 
terly handling  of  the  pole,  to  poise  and  right  her 
into  equilibrium  again  and  shove  her  out  of  peril. 
During  the  imminency  of  the  catastrophe,  the  legal 
gentlemen  were,  evidently,  for  the  moment,  verte- 
brally  affected  with  frigid  sensations;  they  were, 
at  least,  threatened  with  a  sousing  bath,  and  their 
skins  escaped  drenching  by  just  a  hair-breadth  ex- 
cess of  good  fortune. 

Along  in  the  night,  while  we  palefaces  were,  or 
should  have  been,  sleeping  and  dreaming,  the  native 
Americans  were  having  their  own  pleasantries  in 
their  tent.  Their  laugh  and  jabber  told  a  tale  of 
jovial  good  spirits,  and  waked  unwonted  echoes  in 
the  solemn  cloisters  of  the  woods;  they  enjoyed 
their  part  of  the  programme,  not  less  than  we  en- 
joyed ours;  their  night's  sleep  is  usually  preluded 
with  a  merry  pow-wow,  and  fun  all  to  themselves. 
13 


19i  TKOUTING   ON   THE   BBTJLE. 

Whatever  muscularity  they  have  exerted  during 
the  day,  either  in  packing  over  the  carries,  or  navi- 
gating the  flotilla,  or  doing  varied  utility  business 
in  the  camp,  there  was  alwaj^s  time  for  their  lively 
palaver  and  smoking,  before  "  o'er  their  brows  death 
counterfeiting  sleep  with  leaden  and  batty  wings 
did  creep."  Were  we  ever  the  theme  of  their  jokes 
and  pleasantries?  We  knew  not.  None  but  a  phi- 
lologist, learned  in  the  dialect  of  the  Menominees, 
could  tell.  As  Montaigne  said  about  the  playing 
with  the  cat,  who  knows  whether  the  cat  was  most 
amused  at  the  man,  or  the  man  at  the  cat?  Who  of 
us  could  say  if  we  were  objects  of  more  diversion 
to  them  than  they  appeared  odd  and  amusing  to  us? 
However  that  may  be,  these  invaluable  red  fellows, 
the  primitive  copperheads,  had  then  been  long 
enough  in  our  service,  and  so  thoroughly  in  har- 
mony of  will  and  spirit  with  us,  that  we  consid- 
ered them  admitted  to  full  membership  in  our  for- 
est brotherhood. 

In  the  matter  of  costume,  our  outfit  for  more 
than  the  simplest  changes,  bordered  close  on  the  vo- 
cative; the  Sunday  toilette  was  but  slightly  differ- 
ent from  the  secular  raiment.  For  instance,  Pratt 
made  some  pretension  to  style  by  scraping  his  beard 
to  a  closer  stubble,  and  by  a  fresh  collar  to  his  neck. 
High  wiped  his  lips  with  an  unprecedented  napkin 
at  breakfast,  and  effected  an  innovation  by  turning 
the  sleeve-cuffs  of  his  brown  linen  shirt  out  in  full 


SUMMER   ■SVAYFARTXG.  195 

flow;  Denison  made  a  clean  breast  of  it  by  button- 
ing his  vest  up  to  tlie  throat,  I  took  on  a  silk 
neckerchief  knotted  into  a  nondescript  tie.  These 
touches  of  the  elegant  were  not  particularly  apt  to 
inspire  much  pride  of  the  flesh  or  lust  of  the  eye, 
but  symbolically  or  t^^pically,  they  were  just  as  good 
as  if  tip-top. 

"We  were  tired  of  Little  Brule  Falls,  and  as  a  Sun- 
day work  of  charity  to  ourselves,  packed  up,  loaded 
and  embarked  for  ongoing.  As  downward  meant, 
with  Denison,  Minnesota,  dog  and  grouse,  we  were 
every  mile  nearing  the  place,  and  every  hour  near- 
ing  the  time  of  separation  and  of  a  break  in  our 
fraternal  cohesion.  The  prospect  of  near  disor- 
ganization imparted  something  of  a  serious  tone, 
rather  in  harmony  with  Sabbath  decorum. 

Yet,  after  all,  the  carpediem  spirit  was  not  want- 
ing. It  moved  Pratt  to  prove  himself  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  of  appetite  growing  with  what  it 
feeds  on.  Having  had  a  taste  of  blowing  ofi"  a 
mink's  head,  a  mania  for  minks  possessed  him.  He 
determined  to  lay  in  armed  preparation  for  them 
as  we  passed  the  banks,  on  the  way.  He  took  the 
forward  canoe,  and  had  his  gun  in  hand,  well 
slugged  for  deadly  work  among  the  vermin,  and 
kept  a  patient,  keen  lookout.  Scarcely  a  twig 
rustled  on  either  side,  or  a  dark  root  protruded,  or 
a  trout  plunged,  or  a  stir  was  heard  in  the  bushes, 
that  he  was  not  ready  to  make  prompt  and  short 


196  TKO[JTING    ON   THE   BRULE. 

work  of  it.  And  so  we  passed  on  and  on,  down 
smootli  reaches,  turning  bends,  past  clumps  and 
buslies,  log  drifts,  shaded  pools,  twining  roots,  sandy 
strijDS  of  beach,  and  all  j^laces  where  minks  might 
be  expected.  But  his  watching  was  unrewarded, 
and  even  his  cardinal  virtue  of  patience  gave  out, 
and  his  futile  vigilance  became  tediously  monoto- 
nous. Either  because  they  kept  to  their  holes  on 
Sundays,  or  from  an  instinct  of  Pratt's  hostile 
machination,  it  was  certainly  a  bad  day  or  an  off- 
day  for  minks. 

At  noon  we  laid  to  on  the  Michigan  side,  to  camp. 
Fronting  the  spot  was  a  little  island  clothed  with  a 
mass  of  alders;  on  tlie  opposite  shore  beyond  it, 
was  our  camping  place  of  before  the  head  of  the 
trail  to  Boot  lakes.  It  is  a  low,  marshy  ground; 
but  our  new  camping  was  now  on  a  high,  dry  bank. 
It  was  overshadowed  by  the  most  umbrageous  of 
forests;  the  bushes  were  soon  cleared  by  the  axe, 
and  a  convenient  area  of  lawn-like  smoothness  was 
converted  into  a  choice  and  pleasant  tenting  place. 
The  canvass  was  set  up;  the  kettle  was  hung;  the 
frying  pan  told  its  tale  of  crisping  and  browning 
trout.  The  repast  was  grateful  and  needed.  In 
the  post-prandial  divan  on  the  grass,  we  put  it  in- 
to our  pipes  and  smoked  it  how  to  make  the  after- 
noon available.  A  pilgrimage  to  Boot  lake,  or 
lakes  rather,  was  hinted  and  then  considered  in  a 
pourparler  of  pros  and  cons. 


SUMMER   WATFAKING.  197 

There  are  three  of  these  Lakes,  witli  a  liard  port- 
age from  the  river  to  the  nearest,  and  portages 
thence  and  between  the  others;  but  the  question 
was  settled,  when  it  was  known  that  there  is  a  ru- 
mor of  large  trout  in  the  further  water,  and  the 
first  lake  is  a  noted  resort  for  deer.  The  hearsay 
of  the  trout  determined  High,  and  the  repute  of 
the  deer  won  Denison.  The  venture  with  the  fly 
and  the  gun  w'as  therefore  prepared  for,  and,  as  a 
stay  over  night  was  a  necessity,  an  outfit  of  tent, 
commissary  stores  and  canoe,  was  at  once  impro- 
vised. Thebault  and  Joe  Dixon  were  the  muscular 
auxiliaries  and  guides  for  the  campaign.  The  four 
remaining  signalized  the  start  with  a  generous  send- 
oif  of  good  wishes  and  huzzas. 

As  our  supper  had  to  be  caught,  Pratt  and  I  took 
to  the  water  to  sway  the  rods  awhile.  Though  we 
M'ent  not  more  than  gunshot  range  from  camp,  the 
trout  swarmed;  the  sport  was  exhilarating,  and 
busied  us  to  the  extent  of  our  capacity  and  exceed- 
ing the  measure  of  our  wishes.  The  capture  figured 
up  to  ninet^'-three.  The  fisli  here,  on  the  average, 
are  smaller  than  the  upper  ones;  but  they  make 
nearly  as  good  sport,  and  are  quite  as  savory  for  the 
meal  as  those  taken  above. 

Kaquotash  was  in  an  unusually  social  and  gos- 
siping mood  at  night;  his  spirits  enlivened  into 
unwonted  effervescence,  and  his  volubility  of  speech, 
for  an  Indian,  was  something  rare;  his  mind  took 


198         TROUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

an  autobiographical  turn.  While  the  fire-light 
flickered  and  played  in  his  face,  and,  at  times  soft- 
ened or  glowed  on  his  swarthy  features,  his  weird 
appearance,  with  his  oddities  of  tongue(j,  were  a  kind 
of  sorcery  which  held  us  all  willing  and  attentive 
subjects.  Of  course,  the  greater  part  of  his  life 
has  been  that  of  much  forest  wandering;  lie  has 
been  something  of  a  sailor,  too,  and  vividly  related 
the  foundering  condition  of  a  propeller  which  he 
piloted  through  a  perilous  Green  Bay  storm,  finally 
into  harbor. 

Some  experiences  as  a  Wisconsin  cavalryman  in 
Georgia,  in  the  war,  showed  that  David  was  no 
slouch  of  a  soldier,  and  that  he  had  had  hair-breadth 
escapes  by  field  as  well  as  by  flood ;  but  his  adven- 
tures in  the  woods  were  the  most  amusing  and  en- 
tertaining of  his  recollections.  In  the  course  of 
nearly  thirty  years  he  has  been  over  and  over  all 
these  northern  wildernesses,  with  locators,  prospect- 
ors, surveyors  of  lands,  and  with  hunters  and  fish- 
ers, and  also  as  a  logger,  so  that  he  is  an  authority 
on  topographical,  navigating,  sporting,  cooking, 
camping  matters,  as  well  as  thoroughly  versed  in 
the  natural  history  of  the  wilds,  and  their  fish, 
fiesh  and  fowl  varieties. 

A  story  of  a  round  with  a  bear,  on  Pine  Kiver, 
was  related  to  us.  He  and  a  white  man  undertook 
to  capture  a  couple  of  bear  cubs  they  saw  in  a  tree. 
The  parent  brute  was  off  foraging,  probably;  but 


*  SUMMER   WAYFARING.  199 

l)_y  way  of  precaution  against  a  sudden  return  of 
the  dam,  they  built  a  girdle  of  fire  around  as  an  in- 
tended barrier  of  safety.  When  it  was  well  ablaze, 
and  David  was  about  to  climb,  the  mother  came 
madly  rushing  through  the  brush  toward  them; 
their  only  weapon  of  defense  was  an  axe;  with  this 
in  his  hand,  Davnd  retreated  backward  as  fast  as 
the  circumstances  and  his  Indian  legs  would  allow; 
the  enraged  bear  rapidly  advanced;  the  pallid  white 
man  precipitated  himself,  with  marvelous  strides, 
to  the  river,  and  leaped  into  the  canoe,  shoving  it 
out  into  the  stream,  far  and  fast  as  he  could,  leav- 
ing Kaquotash  in  the  lurch,  bawling  loudly  as  he 
went:  "Get  aboard,  Dave,  get  aboard!" 

By  that  time,  the  she-bear  reared  up  on  her 
haunches  to  grapple  the  Indian  in  her  fatal  em- 
brace. Further  backing  was  impossible.  David 
stopped  and  stood  his  ground,  with  the  axe  drawn, 
looking  the  savage  brute  steadily  in  the  eyes.  The 
bear  paused,  too,  motionless,  for  a  few  seconds,  fixed 
by  his  moveless  gaze,  and  then  quailingly  dropping 
on  all  fours,  herself  retreated,  tail  foremost  to  her 
cubs,  and 

"  Cow'd  and  subdued,  fled  from  the  face  of  man, 
Nor  bore  one  glance  of  his  commanding  eye." 


CHAPTEK  XYI. 

FORMER  CAMP — ARBOREAL  INSCRIPTIONS— THE  BOOT  LAKE 
PARTY — FISH  MARVELS — A  BEAR  THAT  WAS  A  BUGBEAR — 
TROUT  JUMPING  AND  FROLICS — COMMITTEE  OP  THE  WHOLE 
— GOOD-BYE  TO  DENISON — MORE  FISHINO — AN  AQUEOUS 
AFTERNOON. 

Pratt  and  I  made  a  morning  excursion  with  the 
canoe.  "We  paddled  over  to  our  camping  ground 
of  before.  There  was  very  little  of  the  genius  loci 
to  enthuse  us.  It  was  overgrown  with  weeds  and 
grasses.  It  is  a  situation  dismal  enough.  Some 
iconoclastic  barbarian  had  ruthlessly,  with  an  axe, 
chipped  away  the  rude  memorials  we  had  inscribed 
on  an  unbarked  surface  of  a  tree  to  mark  and  com- 
memorate our  abiding  there. 

These  arboreal  inscriptions  are  customary  at 
camping  points.  They  answer  to  the  hotel  register 
as  memoranda  of  travel  and  sojourn,  and,  by  comity 
of  wayfarers  in  the  woods,  are  considered  as  sacred- 
ly privileged  from  spoliation  as  the  legends  sculp- 
(200) 


SUiTNIER   WAYFAEING.  201 

tured  on  a  grave-jard  monument.  The  catches  of 
fish  are  often  arithmetically  etched  on  these  tree- 
tablets,  and  sometimes  these,  as  also  names  and 
dates,  are  inscribed  in  rare  vagaries  of  figures  and 
writing. 

The  little  spring  rill,  which  purely  and  coldlj'' 
trickled,  and  which  was  the  only  satisfying  natural 
feature  of  the  place,  was  now  choked  up  and  hid- 
den by  weeds.  We  recalled  reminiscences  of  the 
spot,  and  then  willingly  turned  our  direction  from 
it.  We  tiience  cruised  down  the  stream,  and  skirm- 
ished here  and  there  with  the  rods,  and  relieved  the 
Brule  of  thirty -seven  of  its  enamelled  beauties;  we 
skirmished  about  leisurely  more  for  an  airing  than 
for  sporting.  Getting  back  to  camp  we  found  our 
pilgrims  returned  from  their  overland  wandering; 
they  had  a  good  deal  more  to  tell  of  than  to  show, 
for  their  digression  to  the  lakes  of  Boot.  All  they 
brought  in  was  a  brace  of  partridges,  the  plump 
and  glossy  victims  of  Denison's  gunning. 

They  brou2:ht  the  recollections,  not  the  carcass 
of  a  deer,  seen  in  a  safe  perspective  of  distance, 
which  the  deer  was  wary  and  witting  enough  to 
keep  from  being  foreshortened;  they  had  portaged 
over  the  canoe  for  a  night  hunt  with  the  lantern; 
they  coasted  the  curving  borders  of  the  lake,  steal- 
ing noiselessly  through  the  tall  grasses  in  the  shal- 
lows, or  cutting  a  swathe  among  the  lily  pads,  or 
skimming  gently  over  the  still  clear  water,  with  the 


202  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

fflare  of  the  lio^lit  casting  a  fjlittering:  refulgence 
aliead,  tbej  themselves  and  their  canoe  thrown  in 
shadow  and  concealment. 

But  there  was  no  sight  or  sonnd  of  a  deer,  no 
rustle  in  the  bushes,  and  no  stir  in  the  water.  The 
night  hunt  was  a  failure;  though  that  was  not  sin- 
gular, and  not  at  all  unexpected.  The  night  was 
bright;  Luna  had  put  on  her  brightest  face,  such 
as  that  with  which  she  shone  loveliest  to  meet  and 
woo  her  Endymion  alone  on  the  mountain  and  en- 
circle him  in  her  golden  halo;  there  was  no  playing 
or  laying  a  successful  ambuscade  in  the  streaming 
rays  of  the  moon;  consequenth^,Denison's  venison, 
which  was  to  garnish  our  refections,  was  only  moon- 
shine. 

The  stories  they  told  of  the  bass,  in  the  further 
lake,  were  those  of  icthyological  wonders;  the  water 
was  clear  as  crystal,  and  the  lake  a  natural  aquari- 
um, with  transparency  enough  to  reveal  the  thick 
shoals  of  fish  disporting  beneath;  they  were  seen 
fearlessly  swimming  in  hordes;  the  place  is  stocked 
with  them,  as  if  there  was  no  limit  to  their  indefi- 
nite spawning  and  propagation;  they  darted  about 
at  random,  without  fear  of  foes  or  danger  on  the 
surface.  Txic  lake  is  seldom  visited;  an  angler  who 
can  have  his  utmost  fill  of  sport,  that  which  is  the 
superlative  of  all  sport,  in  abundance,  at  least,  on 
the  Brule,  is  scarcely  apt  to  venture  the  trying  or- 
deal of  the  rough  trails  over  there,  to  squander  time 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  203 

in  the  muscular  exertion  of  heavy  jDulling  and  drag- 
ging out  which  bass  fishing  is.  So  tlie  Boot  lake 
bass  are  not  decimated  or  thinned  out  by  fishers. 
Our  party  took  thirty  or  more  of  them,  mainly  by 
trolling. 

High  was  heedless  enough  to  try  liis  delicate 
trout  rod,  and  one  of  the  heavy  weights  nipped  his 
fly,  and  the  tug  was  so  strong  that  his  slender  tip 
snapped  like  a  pipe-stem.  Denison  dropped  in  a 
spoon,  with  a  flaming  red  pendant,  and  dangled  it 
near  the  surface  and  said  that  a  concourse  of  all- 
sized  bass  loomed  up  in  a  circle  around  it,  and 
poised  there  on  their  fins,  a  sort  of  wondering,  gap- 
iuff  throns:  around  his  ij-laring  bob.  As  a  Master  in 
Chancery,  who  swears  others  to  tell  the  truth,  ought 
himself  to  be  truthful,  we  accepted  this  relation 
as  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth;  though  a  con- 
siderable story  of  fish,  it  was  not,  he  afiirmed,  a 
fish  story.  The  fish  they  caught  would  weigh  from 
five  pounds  down  to  one;  the}^  soon  tired  of  their 
miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  went  ashore,  and,  like 
Arabs,  silently  folded  their  tent  and  stole  wonder- 
ingly  away. 

There  was  a  bear  incident,  also,  at  Boot  lake,  or 
bug-bear,  or,  only  the  bare  imagination  of  a  bear, 
and  not  a  real  bruin.  In  trailing  to  the  lake,  the 
party  straggled  on  in  Indian  file,  with  Denison  in 
the  van,  High,  Thebault  and  Dixon  bringing  up 
the  rear,  at  intervals;  Frank  then  c^me  suddenly  to 


20  i  TEOUTING    ON   THE   BRULE. 

« 

a  dead  halt,  and  excitedly  reported  "  A  bear!  a  bear!" 
It  was  not  told  to  us  whether  the  hair  electri- 
cally lifted  on  the  scalps  of  the  hunter  and  fisher; 
but,  with  rare  presence  of  mind,  under  alarming 
circumstances,  they  discreetly  abstained  from  a  bold 
headlong  dash,  or  instant  onset  on  the  dangerous 
enemy,  and  prudently  waited  the  reinforcen\ent  of 
the  experienced  bear-slayers  from  the  rear.  ""SYliere? 
where?"  inquired  Thebault  and  Dixon,  looking 
grave,  as  they  always  do,  when  there  is  serious  busi- 
ness on  hand  or  foot,  each  cautiously  scanning,  on 
tip-toe,  the  direction  pointed  out  by  Denison. 

When  Denison  succeeded  in  at  length  directing 
the  Indian's  vision  point  blank  to  the  supposed  bear, 
the  natives  simultaneously  burst  into  a  roar  of 
laughter;  of  course,  this  completely  demoralized 
and  confounded  the  Chicago  barristers.  The  Indi- 
ans declared  that  the  "bear  was  a  porcupine!"  and 
really,  the  savage  bear  of  an  unmitigated  optical 
illusion  was,  after  all,  a  bugaboo  of  a  porcupine,  of 
most  harmless  propensities,  peacefully  sunning 
itself  on  a  charred  stump! 

"  Such  tricks  hath  strong  imagination, 
*    *    *    *    imagining  some  fear, 
How  easy  is  a  bush  suppos'd  a  bear." 

This  ursine  hallucination  was  one  of  the  wonders 
of  the  Boot  lake  expedition  about  which  our  bam- 
boozled comrades  were  not  inclined  to  indulge  in 
any  sounding  manifestoes. 


SUJOIER   WATFAKIXG.  205 

Pratt  and  myself  struck  a  choice  trout  lead, 
which  we  worked  beautifully.  The  activities  of  the 
brilliant  leapers  were  most  varied  in  their  displays; 
they  almost  literally  flew  about  as  if  their  tins  for  wa- 
ter were  as  well  wine's  for  the  air.  Sometimes  the 
high-flyers,  as  if  in  play  themselves,  or  as  if  striv- 
ing in  a  grab  or  snatching  match,  would  leap  at  once 
for  the  same  fly.  One  of  them  vaulted  over  a  log, 
as  neatly  as  an  expert  tumbler  would  turn  a  bar; 
another  would  skip  ducks  and  drakes  along,  bob- 
bing in  and  out.  This  was  all  rather  a  comical 
piscatory  pleasantry  to  us.  David  told  us  that  the 
trout,  going  up  creeks  and  small  streams,  make  no 
bones  of  tossing  over  logs,  and  said  he  had  seen  a 
trout  throw  himself  up  over  Brule  Falls,  a  good  three 
feet  jump.  Seeing  and  hearing  these  gymnastical 
feats,  I  am  not  sure  that  it  would  have  greatly  sur- 
prised us  to  see  a  trout  climbing  a  tree!  It  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  been  wonderful  for  one  to 
have  flirted  into  the  canoe.  There  is  no  end  to  the 
freaks  of  the  volatile  imps. 

In  the  golden  sunset,  we  meandered  the  twisting 
thread  of  the  river  back  to  the  camp,  cutting  with 
the  prow  the  silvery  surface  into  ripples  triangula- 
ting off  to  the  edges,  and  swaying  the  grasses  and 
the  dipping  leafage  into  waving  motion.  As  the 
last  faint  red  tinges  of  the  sky  faded  into  twilight, 
we  reached  the  grassy  quay  of  the  camp-ground. 
That  night,  after  the  meal,  when  the  pipes  were 


206  TROTJTIXG   ON    THE   BKULE. 

suffusing,  and  after  the  drowsy  autochthones  had 
retired,  the  Chicago  party  resolved  itself  into  a 
committee  of  the  wJiole. 

Denison  and  his  outset  for  Minnesota  were  the 
special  order  of  the  day,  and  the  subject  of  inter- 
pellation and  debate.  The  fever  for  that  remote 
promise-land  of  grouse  was  now  a  furor  too  imper- 
ative to  be  stayed  or  repressed.  The  rnsh  of  dog 
to  the  head  must,  we  saw,  inevitably  lead  to  his 
taking  off.  And  so  Dick,  off  towards  the  north 
star,  was  too  much  for  us  all.  We  were  ready  to 
pronounce  on  the  blameless  cur,  Launce's  outlawry 
declared  against  the  misbehaving  Crab:  "Out with 
the  dog!  "  "  "Whip  him  out!  "  "  Hang  him  up!  " 
As  the  only  mode  of  outgo  was  by  canoe,  the  leav- 
ing would  require  a  withdrawal  of  half  the  party, 
and  a  moiety  of  the  equipment.  Pratt  volunteered 
to  be  his  companion,  though  it  was  only  a  perfunc- 
tory assent  given — a  necessity  more  than  a  choice. 
It  was  left  to  the  Indian  contingent  to  settle  for 
itself  whicli  of  the  guides  should  attend  Denison. 
When  so  much  of  the  programme  was  settled,  it 
was  late,  and  the  committee  rose,  and  having,  like 
Bottom,  "  an  exposition  of  sleep  come  upon  "  us, 
we  took  to  the  reposeful  blankets,  leaving  the 
sweet  sorrow  of  the  parting  for  the  rosy  early  hours 
of  day. 

Chickabiddy  Camp,  in  the  morning,  was  early 
and  busily  astir,  for  a  goodly  and  timely  starting 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  207 

and  send-off  of  our  parting  comrades.  Of  course, 
we  collectively  felt,  for  the  first  time  on  tlie  trip, 
emotions  of  regret  as  the  time  was  come  to  word 
the  farewell  with  the  lips.  In  the  boundless  and 
overpowering  presence  and  solitude  of  nature,  our 
intimacy  had  grown  so  close,  warm,  united  and 
sympathetic,  that  near  fellowship  became  Avarin 
fraternity.  Parting  would  be  a  break  in  our  unity 
and  community  of  spirit,  and,  though  some  of  us 
should  meet  again  in  the  city,  our  paths  then  would 
be  too  diverse,  and  our  several  preoccupations  too 
varied  to  admit  of  the  union  into  one  continuing 
common  mood  and  mind  like  that  of  the  woods, 
where  "the  electric  chain  wherewith  we  are  darkly 
bound  "  kept  us  constantly  and  vividly  en  rapport. 
AYe  felt  somethins'  of  this  on  the  eve  of  the  dissolu- 
tion.     It  was  not  embodied  in  lip-language. 

In  fact  we  rather  affected  facetiousness.  Eut  the 
mirth  was  like  that  sometimes  intended  to  mask 
solemnity.  It  was  not  the  real  mirth  that  makes 
the  side  ache,  and  soothes  away  the  hurt  of  heart- 
ache. Our  jokes  were  too  weighty  to  be  witty. 
With  them  all  there  was  one  word  we  were  loth  to 
speak,  that  should  be  kept  back  to  the  last — "  good- 
bye." We  had  found  we  were  such  good  and  right 
companions  to  be  together,  we  felt  we  ought  to 
keep  the  companionship  unbroken  to  the  end.  And 
so,  when  the  time  came  for  us  to  loosen  the  silver 
chord,  and  sever  our  entirety  into  parting  compa- 


208  TKOUTING   ON    THE   BRULE. 

nies,  we  knew,  tliose  hasting  and  those  loitering, 
that  there  would  be  an  emotion  deeper,  truer  and 
warmer  than  is  found  in  a  common-place  adieu. 

The  guides  shared  these  feelings.  They  were 
averse  to  breaking  up.  Neither  of  them  wanted 
to  be  of  the  returning  portion  of  the  party.  Which 
it  should  be  at  the  last  only  was  settled,  as  between 
David  and  Thebault,  by  casting  lots;  and  it  was  the 
long  twig  drawn  by  Kaquotash  that  fated  him  to  go. 
Shortly  after  eight  o'clock,  everything  and  every- 
body were  ready,  and  the  order  "  all  aboard,"  given 
by  Denison,  signalled  the  last  moment.  The  pres- 
sure of  hands  in  the  adieu  was  warm.  And  then 
in  their  birchen  shell,  the  Tom  King,  Denison  and 
David,  Pratt  and  Joe  Dixon,  glided  away  in  the 
distance.  High  and  I  recurred  to  the  passage  in 
Walton  of  the  parting  of  Piscator  and  his  companion, 
and  applied  his  words  on  our  occasion:  ''  We  are 
loth  to  part  with  you  now,  but  when  you  tell  us 
3'ou  must  go,  we  will  then  wait  upon  you  with  our 
thoughts,  all  the  miles  of  your  way,  and  heartily 
wish  you  a  good  journey."  For  the  kindly  and 
thoughtful  David  Kaquotash,  who  had  so  well 
served  us  and  so  much  attached  us,  he  of  the  native 
and  we  of  the  foreign  race  and  language,  we  uttered 
a  fervent  "  God  bless  you!  "  We  will  wear  in  our 
hearts  his  living  memory.  Our  aspiration  was, 
may  he  live  long  and  prosper,  and  when  he  dies 
may  he  go  to  the  place  where  the  good  Indians  go. 


SUIMMER   'WAYFAETNG.  209 

"We  thonglit  the  fitting  thing  by  way  of  relief 
against  the  present  sense  of  tlie  loneliness  and 
vacancy  of  the  camp,  was  to  divert  onr  thoughts 
from  it  and  our  friends  to  the  fish.  To  that  end, 
we  arranged  the  tackle  in  its  best  trim,  and  set- 
ting out  on  the  Brule,  radiant  in  the  glow  of  the 
morning,  the  birch  bark  we  sat  in,  like  Cleopatra's 
barge  on  the  river  of  Cydnus,  "  a  burnished  throne, 
burned  on  the  water,"  so  glaring,  at  starting,  was  the 
dazzle  of  the  sun. 

We  crept  along  the  winding  of  the  stream,  from 
pool  to  pool,  or  through  frothy  shallows,  or  into  a 
shadowed  nook,  or  breasted  the  rapids,  and  also 
flung  out  at  random  while  in  tr3,nsit.  During  the 
two  or  three  hours  of  the  coursing  we  canght  6*iily 
forty-five  trout,  but  did  catch  a  very  brief,  sudden, 
refreshing  shower,  from  a  single  cloud  that  a  way- 
ward impromptu  gust  swept  over  us.  On  Sunday 
and  the  day  following,  the  heat  was  something  of 
the  tropics,  and  at  night  we  dispensed  with  the 
illumining  and  warming  from  the  usual  pine  -ingle- 
side  of  the  camp,  and  very  comfortably  enjoyed  our 
last  meerschaums  before  bedtime,  in -the  midsum- 
mer night  scene  in  shirt-sleeves.  This  balminess 
of  the  night  hours,  however,  was  a  rarity  and  fit- 
ftilness  of  temperature.  In  this  camp,  and'  as  if 
spawned  or  vitalized  by  the  warmth,  the  house- 
flies  plagued  us  fiendishly,  more  tormentingly  than 
the  mosquitoes  or  midgets. 
14 


210         TKOUTIXG  ON  THE  BEULE. 

The  afternoon  sport  was  dashed  hy  rain,  which 
fell  copiously  from  serried  cohorts  of  clond  that 
swept  up,  charging  fiercely  from  the  west.  Part  of 
the  time  it  subsided  into  a  glimmer  or  a  mist  of 
rain,  and  again  showered  heavily,  so  that  we  were 
embargoed  by  the  elements  into  indoor  listlessness. 
Looking  out  of  the  open  flap  of  the  tent,  the  pros- 
pect was  dreary  enough.  The  rain  drops  dotted 
and  pimpled  the  stream  thickly.  They  pelted  and 
spluttered  in  the  camp  fire,  and  clipped  its  flames, 
and  p)lumped  and  dully  thudded  among  the  embers 
and  in  the  ashes,  and  the  tongues  of  the  blazes 
hissed  and  sizzled  angrily  in  the  strife  of  flre  and 
water.  The  pines  and  firs  dripped  ceaselessly. 
The  sky  was  leaden  and  sullen.  Thebault  and  Paul 
took  their  enforced  seclusion  with  the  most  happy 
go-lucky  composure,  laboriously  whifiing  their 
pipes  and  indolently  sprawling  on  the  blankets  in 
their  tent. 

Against  the  outer  dreariness  and  the  inner  mono- 
tony we  fell  back  on  our  literature  for  relief.  In 
his  consuming  thirst  for  information  about  that 
"Mysterious "Island"  of  Jules  Yerne,  and  between 
the  book  and  his  pipe.  High  forgot,  possibly,  the 
clouds,  the  rain,  the  dullness,  the  general  discomfort 
of  the  occasion.  I  turned  the  pages  of  honest 
Walton,  and  following  his  footsteps  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Lea,  for  the  time  was  unmindful  of  the 
very  Brule  at  our  feet,  and,  in  those  charming  dis- 


SUMilEE    WAYFAEING.  211 

coursings  which  have  made  the  "  Complete  Ang- 
ler" forever  a  lovable  classic  in  onr  language, 
renevt^ed  some  of  those  sweet  spells  which  fascinated 
me  in  earlier  years.  "We  had  time,  too,  to  speak 
of  our  away-gone  friends,  and  of  course  we  missed 
Denison's  restless  volatility . 

Some  of  Denison's  equipment  we  could  willingly 
afford  to  part  withal.  One  familiar  object,  whose 
room  was  greatly  preferred  to  its  company,  was  his 
portable  powder  magazine,  which  he  called  an  ammu- 
nition case.  This  twenty-five  pound  locker  of  deadly 
missiles  was  generally  lying  around  in  the  tent  for 
us  to  stumble  our  toes  against,  or  to  menace  some, 
or  all  of  us,  with  au  explosive  hoist,  to  the  "  demni- 
tion  bow-wows,"  It  was  about  as  safe  and  cheerful 
a  companion  to  have  around  as  a  torpedo  or  a  carboy 
of  dynamite,  when  lighted  meerschaums  were  so 
freely  swung  around,  and  the  sparks,  like  whirling 
myriads  of  fire-flies,  were  flying  in  showers  from 
our  breakfast  fires,  dinner  fires,  supper  fires,  and 
our  morning  and  evening  tent  fires.  That  ammu- 
nition case  must  have  been  the  terror  of  the  men, 
if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  its  being  a 
heavy  dorsal  strain  on  every  Indian  whose  unhappy 
fate  it  was  to  lug  it  on  the  portages.  The  fixed 
ammunition,  as  he  termed  his  cartridges,  never  was 
fixed,  apparently,  as  he  seemed  constantly  fixing  it. 
He  handled  it  freely,  as  a  child  would  play  its  rat- 
tles and  baubles.     His  case  was  opened  as  often  as 


212         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

tlie  valise  that  lield  liis  novels.  !N"obody  could  tell 
when  an  ill-governed  or  wayward  spark  raiglit  be 
the  means  of  blowing  up  the  camp,  and  all  who 
dwelt  therein.  He  aj^peared  to  think  his  explo- 
sives had  a  useful  disciplinary  purpose  in  school- 
ing us  to  sleepless  vigilance  and  caution. 

He  spread  out  a  two-pound  package  of  powder 
on  a  ncM^spaper  on  the  grass  in  front  of  the  tent,  to 
dry  in  the  sun.  He  emphatically  warned  me  to  be 
careful  about  smoking,  as  I  might  drop  a  spark  in 
his  powder,  and  blow  up  the  entire  stock  and  spoil 
his  shooting.  The  admonition,  certainly,  was  so 
apt  and  timely,  and  so  well  meant  for  the  safety  of 
the  powder,  if  not  of  myself,  that  I  felt  grateful  for 
his  cautionary  kindness,  and  was  rather  inclined  to 
consider  him  my  benefactor.  In  looking  around 
for  marks  to  shoot  at,  he  discovered  a  wasp's  nest 
suspended  from  a  limb  of  a  tree  near  the  tent.  He 
thought  that,  by  right  of  discovery,  he  was  privi- 
leged to  deal  with  it  in  his  own  way,  and  that  was 
to  shatter  it  into  flinders  with  his  revolver.  It  was 
all  I  could  do  to  keep  him  from  blowing  it  into 
fragments  and  setting  loose  on  us  the  whole  swarm 
of  infuriated  wasps,  to  make  it  hot  and  lively 
around  the  camp.  He  seemed  to  regard  the  obnox- 
ious vespiary  as  a  hanging  provocation  or  challenge 
for  his  revolver  marksmanship.  Sitting  under  or 
near  it,  he  was  uneasy  and  perturbed,  like  Damocles 
beneath  the  suspended  sword  at  the  Dyonisian  feast. 


SUMMEK   WAYFAKING.  213 

I  am  not  sure  that  lie  forgave,  or  ever  will  quite 
forgive  me  for  thwarting  him  of  the  ecstacj  of 
demolishing  that  wasp's  nest  into  everlasting  atoms. 
At  twilight  the  rain  increased,  and  it  was  by  a 
bare  excess  of  the  chances  that  the  kitchen  fire  was 
not  squelched,  and  we  were  not  sent  supperless  to 
bed.  By  chipping  and  splintering  dry  pine,  choi:>ped 
from  the  under  sides  of  logs,  the  Indians  found 
just  enough  fuel  to  keep  combustion  alive;  and 
though  the  drops  pattered  on  the  kettle,  the  water 
within  at  last  boiled  into  a  bubbling  song  of  tea. 
The  fire  for  our  tent  drowned  out,  and  the  niglit 
darkness  and  dampness  crept  on  us.  The  gloom 
within  was  made  more  conspicuous  by  the  weak, 
imcertain  flare  of  the  lantern  suspended.  To  shut 
out  the  utter  dismalness  of  the  outside,  and  to  close 
ourselves  in,  the  flaps  of  the  tent  were  drawn  to- 
gether, the  tallow  dip,  our  flickering  glim,  was  put 
out,  and,  in  the  blankets,  we  gradually  soothed 
away  and  lost  the  miseries  of  the  situation  in  sleep. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

SKIRMISHING  FOR  FISH — A  RED  TROUT — CRASSUS  THE  ROMAN 
—A  RARE  DISH — RIVER  RISE — ECCENTRIC  FREAKS  OF  FISH 
— A  LUNAR  EFFECT — THE  SAW-BILLS— RED  SQUIRRELS — IN- 
DIANS TROUTING — A  COLOSSAL  TROUT — HIGH,  THE  CHAMP- 
ION ANGLER. 

The  clouds  that  lowered  on  our  house  the  last 
night,  were  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried. 
In  the  morning  we  woke  to  a  very  resplendence  of 
sunshine;  the  azure  was  without  even  the  fleck  of 
a  cloud;  the  green  of  the  forest  was  a  deeper  em- 
erald ;  the  air  was  pure  and  laden  with  the  odors 
of  balsam.  We  were  in  the  best  of  spirits,  though 
we  missed  some  of  the  boisterous  fim  or  chaffing 
with  which  we  had  been  wont  to  welcome  in  the 
jocund  morn.  "We  wished  Pratt  and  Denison  were 
with  us  for  our  and  their  own  longer  pleasure  in 
the  sports  of  the  Brule.  After  the  flrst  order  of 
the  day,  the  breakfast,  was  disposed  of,  the  business 
next  in  order  was  proceeded  with.  The  splendid 
(214) 


SUaniER   WAYFARING.  215 

morning  incited  us  to  an  excursion  on  tlie  river, 
now,  after  the  gloom  and  sulleness  of  tLe  previous 
da}^,  more  than  ever  attractive  in  its  fullness  of 
summer  glories. 

' '  Now  let  tlie  fisherman  liis  toils  prepare, 
And  arm  himself  with  ev'iy  wat'ry  snare; 
His  hooks,  his  lines  peruse  with  careful  eye, 
Increase  his  tackle,  and  his  rod  re-tie." 

It  needed  all  Paul's  exertions  to  push  the  craft 
up  the  stiff  currents  swollen  with  the  rains.  At 
times,  it  was  heaving  ahead  verj  slowly.  At  vari- 
ous pools,  where  we  held  awhile,  we  most  prosper- 
ously whipped  the  stream.  Our  concern  was,  not 
to  hover  where  the  trout  swarmed  most  abundantly, 
but  to  find  the  haunts  of  the  largest.  The  small 
fry  could  be  plenteously  caught  in  nearly  any  place 
of  the  river;  but  the  heavy  swells,  more  shy  and 
wary,  frequent  under  a  bank  where  the  water  runs 
close  up  and  deep,  or  under  logs,  or  in  deep  pools 
or  holes,  or  at  or  under  the  rapids,  or  in  the  depths 
of  the  channel,  or  in  the  swirl  below  a  large  boulder. 
They  are  more  coy  than  tlie  troutlings,  and  some- 
times must  be  coaxed  and  tickled  with  a  delicate 
and  cautious  dalliance. 

We  happened  on  some  of  these  haunts  of  the 
choice  fish.  E-ight  gallantly  did  they  show  the 
gamesome  stuff  of  which  they  Avcre  made.  There 
was  agitation  in  the  waters  when  they  stretched  a 
line  and  bent  a  tip.     I  envied  High  the  repeated 


216         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

onset  and  final  capture  of  one  particnlar  trout, 
splendid  in  his  mettle  and  dasli,  and  in  his  propor- 
tions and  unequalled  heautj'.  On  his  first  charge 
at  the  flj,  he  appeared,  in  the  clear  water,  a  flash 
of  deep,  red  flame,  so  brilliant  was  he  in  his  em- 
blazonry; but  he  was  not  then  taken.  On  the  next 
cast  he  pitched  at  the  fly  as  it  touched  the  water. 
We  thought  him  taken,  and  saw  him  wavering  in 
shape  of  red  as  he  was  being  played  in;  but,  after 
all,  he  flouted  oif  and  we  thought  him  gone  forever. 
But, fate  had  set  its  seal  on  him;  on  a  third  imme- 
diate cast,  he  came  boldly  to  the  snatch  again,  and 
then  he  was  firmly  struck. 

How  slowly,  carefully  and  skillfully  High  han- 
dled his  rod  so  as  to  save  his  gallant,  struggling 
prize.  When  he  was  being  drawn  in,  fluttering 
and  writhing,  he  appeared  to  us  as  if  reddened  in 
his  own  blood.  He  fought  gamely  to  the  last. 
When  brought  in  and  unhooked,  each  of  us  took 
him,  b}'  turns,  and  handled  him  tenderly,  and  with 
w^ondcr  and  admiration  at  his  beauty.  He  was  the 
sole  one  of  the  kind  we  had  ever  seen  taken  from 
the  Brule.  He  was  peerless  in  size  as  he  was  in 
brilliancy.  The  tail,  fins  and  belly  were  of  deepest 
red.  The  specks  were  unusually  defined  and  high 
colored,  and  the  skin  was  finely  empearled  and  per- 
fect. We  all  regretted  that  he  could  not  be  kept 
alive  or  preserved  to  be  taken  home  as  a  wonder. 
He  would  be  a  marvel  of  beauty  in  a  parlor  aqua- 
rium or  fish  fflobe. 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  217 

lie  was  a  paragon  of  a  trout,  liaudsome  enonoli 
to  be  kept  and  fondled  as  a  pet,  as  was  the  lamprey 
of  Crassns,  the  oratoi",  which  would  come  at  his 
call  and  feed  from  his  hand.  That  eminent  Roman 
forensic  gentleman  wept  when  his  fondling  of  the 
pond  died.  His  tears  occasioned  a  repartee  of  his, 
which  ^lian  has  been  thoughtful  enough  to  pre- 
serv^e,  and  which  shows  that  it  was  a  great  point 
with  the  lawyers  of  the  Roman,  as  it  is  witli  those 
of  the  modern  forum,  to  have  the  last  wo:  d.  JEno- 
barbus  was  the  colleague  of  the  orator  in  the  cen- 
sorship, and  foolhardily  ventured  to  twit  his  brother 
official  on  his  puling  and  sobbing  over  a  defunct 
fish.  The  legal  wit  retorted  that  it  was  not  for 
Domitius  -^nobarbus  to  taunt  Licinius  Crassus 
with  bewailing  anything,  since  the  same  Domitius 
had  buried  three  wives  without  rending  his  toga  or 
tearing  his  beard,  and  without  a  single  tear  or 
whimper  at  the  funeral  of  either  demised  consort, 
or  words  to  that  effect.  As  the  historian  has  not 
reported  a  reply,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  wid- 
owered  Roman  silently  withered. 

As  a  dernier  resort^  and  the  only  one,  the  beauty- 
trout  was  handed  over  to  the  cook  for  his  profes- 
sional treatment.  It  was  served  at  our  tahle  (T  hote, 
and,  at  High's  special  instance,  fell  to  my  platter. 
Beneath  his  crisp  and  embrowned  coat  of  mail,  the 
tender  flakes  were  delicate  and  sweet,  and  of  the 
deepest  pink  salmon  tinge,  and  were  as  choice  to 


218  TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

eat  as  fair  to  look  upon.  It  was  a  dainty  dish,  of 
which  it  could  be  said,  as  Walton  says  of  a  service 
of  fish  described  by  him,  it  was  "  too  good  for  any 
body  but  anglers  and  very  honest  men." 

In  the  afternoon,  and  after  our  customary  lounge 
in  the  shade,  we  put  off  for  further  essaying  with 
the  fly.  The  rain  of  the  night  before,  by  that  time, 
had  swollen  the  river  more  voluminously  so  that 
it  ran  swiftly  smooth  over  ordinary  shallows.  It 
was  all  channel.  The  canoe  could  float  about  any- 
where, and  we  could  strike  trout  around  about  us 
nearly  everywhere.  Just  at  the  camp,  too,  we  could 
take  them.  At  the  rapids  lower  down,  where  Pratt 
and  I  had  fortuned  on  a  paying  lead,  as  the  miners 
say,'we  failed  to  get  a  rise,  probably  because  the  water 
swept  too  turbulently.  This  convinced  us,  what 
indeed,  was  believed  before,  that  the  fish  are  wander- 
ing, and  do  not  shoal  in  pools  when  there  is  water- 
way to  swim  them  freely  at  large.  In  the  Brule 
at  its  full  stream,  the  trout  are  wanderers — here  to- 
day, and  to-morrow  elsewhere. 

We  saw  some  of  their  amusing  freaks  again;  one 
voracious  fellow  vaulted  over  a  log  to  snatch  a 
fascinating,  new,  glossy  fly  that  High  had  thrown, 
and  did  tackle  it,  but  paid  dearly  for  tlie  leap,  for 
he  was  caj^tured,  and  was  plump  enough  to  be  laid 
by  as  a  choice  morsel  for  the  pan.  Another  trout 
skipped  horizontally,  at  least  two  feet  along,  barely 
above  and  in  line  with  the  surface,  and  then  frisked 


SriTMEK   WATFAKING.  219 

out  sideways  and  dropped  back  flat  into  the  water 
laterally.  These  antics  rather  amazed  and  much 
amused  us.  The  figures  of  the  day  were  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five. 

I  got  ujD  in  the  night  to  close  the  flaps  of  the 
tent,  and  witnessed  a  striking  lunar  effect.  Fog- 
was  dense  over  the  river.  Tlie  moon,  directly  op- 
posite to,  or  fronting  the  camp,  shone  lustrously; 
a  narrow  pathway  of  illuminated  golden  haze 
stretched  from  the  brink,  at  our  feet,  in  rising  per- 
spective, up  to  the  face  of  the  moon.  Early  in  the 
morning,  wlien  the  glories  of  the  coming  day  were 
glimmering  the  east  into  the  hues  of  dawn,  the  flock 
of  saw-bills  that  ill-omened  our  Michigami  voy- 
age, or  some  others  of  the  nefarious  family,  were 
heard  quacking  and  seen  paddling  in  the  very  pur- 
view of  the  camp.  One  of  the  boys  rising  from 
his  snore  frightened  them,  and  as  usual  they  bois- 
terously scattered  in  terror. 

There  was  a  settlement  of  small  red  squirrels 
around  us.  They  were  very  nimble,  and  the  trees 
near  by  were  noisy  with  their  lively  chattering. 
They  ventured  occasionally  on  the  trees  overhanging 
the  camp.  One  of  them  capered  neatly  on  alder 
bushes  within  twenty  feet  of  us,  bending  down 
slender  branches,  swinging  from  one  to  another, 
swaying  on  twigs,  rattling  the  leaves,  and  whisking 
his  tail.  We  saw  several  of  them  chasing,  one 
after  another,  in  ajumj^ingrace,  on  logs,  squeaking 


220  TROUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

sharply  as  thev  went.  There  were  small  birds,  like 
sjDarrows,  flitting  among  the  bushes  in  hide-and-go- 
seek  playfulness,  twittering  little  trills. 

A  chipmunk  sometimes  came,  and  stopjDcd  on  a 
log  to  take  a  look  at  us.  Occasionally  the  croak  of  a 
raven,  or  the  moan  of  a  loon  high  flying,  the  rat- 
tat  of  a  sapsucker,  or  the  pecking  of  a  woodpecker, 
or  the  jerking  notes  of  a  jaybird,  and  some  other 
notes  not  familiar  to  ns,  were  heard,  a'nd  proved 
that  bird-life  is  more  varied  and  abundant  here 
than  on  the  Michigami;  but  even  here  the  feath- 
ered choristers  were  not,  either  in  number  or  va- 
riety, what  would  be  expected  in  such  a  grand  old 
wilderness.  High  was  thoughtful  enough  of  the 
better-half  serviug  the  household  gods  at  home, 
to  gather  and  press  for  her  in  the  leaves  of  a  Jules 
Yerne  extravaganza,  some  of  the  choicest  of  the 
ferns,  which  mantled  the  ground  near  by  with  a  liv- 
ery of  vivid  green. 

We  ourselves  prompted  Thebault  and  Paul  to 
experiment  their  Indian  skill  in  a  match  with  the 
trout.  Whether  or  not  they  would  be  successful 
with  the  fly  and  our  more  delicate  appliances,  who 
had  only  occasionally  trouted,  and  then,  with  ruder 
line,  and  rod  fashioned  from  a  branch  and  with 
bait,  was  a  problem  they  themselves  had  no  experi- 
ence from  which  to  forecast  results  at  starting.  We 
committed  to  them  our  rig,  and  they  canoed  up- 
wardly, and,  in  their  venture,  wielded  the  rods  so 


SUMMER   WAYFAKIXG.  221 

mucli  to  the  purpose,  in  their  dalliance  with  the  fish, 
as  to  return  to  us  with  flving  colors  and  with  fiftj- 
three  trout,  news  of  which  they  proudly  hailed  to 
us  as  they  rounded  to  the  mooring.  AVhether  this, 
their  first  foraging  the  river,  had  edged  their  appe- 
tites more  sharply,  or  whether  they  had  a  special 
relish  because  the  spoils  were  of  their  own  capture, 
we  did  not  know,  but  certainly  they  bountifully 
served  themselves  and  repeated  more  than  their 
usual  courses  of  the  fry. 

After  dinner,  we  set  out  again  to  fish.  From 
some  whim  or  caprice,  in  quest  of  novelty,  and  to 
variegate  our  bearings,  we  pushed  into  untried 
inlets,  unexplored  nooks  and  unknown  chutes.  We 
tried  one  or  two  openings  into  the  stream,  which 
in  short  time  we  found  to  be  ciils  de  sac  of  water 
in  which  we  were  entrapped,  and  were  obliged 
to  turn  about  and  retrace  our  course.  Within  a 
short  distance  of  the  camp  there  are  numerous 
little  islands,  with  threads  of  stream  tangling  and 
winding  about  them,  Yenetian-like  petty  lagoons. 
Into  one  of  these.  High's  prying  curiosity  prompted 
a  venture;  after  we  ascended  some  distance  from  the 
entrance,  it  so  narrowed  and  crooked,  the  foliage  so 
overstretched  it,  the  snags,  sunken  brush  and  fallen 
timber  so  obstructed  the  passage,  that  it  was  hard 
to  force  the  birch-bark  on,  though  Paul  struggled 
manfully.  But  we  had  pressed  on  so  far  that  to 
return  were  as  tedious  as  to  go  on.  We  determined 
to  crowd  ahead  to  the  main  stream 


222         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

A  few  pushes  further,  at  a  point  where  seemingly 
there  was  no  promise  of  a  fish  of  any  size,  High 
instinctively  caught  sight  of  a  narrow,  dark  strip 
of  water,  close  under  a  shore,  embanked  by  a  dense 
luxuriance  of  alders,  and  carefully  laid  in  his  fly, 
on  a  short  piece  of  line.  It  was,  except  to  an  eye 
of  faith,  a  forlorn  hope  of  a  place.  There  was  no 
space  for  two  to  cast.  But  the  chance  dip  of  the 
fly  proved,  by  a  rise,  that  the  hidden  spot  might  be 
a  lair  of  trout.  The  hint  was  followed  up,  and  its 
promise  was  followed  too,  by  splendid  performance. 

Again  casting  his  fly  at  the  very  shore-line  in 
the  dark  strip,  its  touch  on  the  water  was  one  as 
of  magic,  and  proved  to  be  the  master-stroke  of 
all  Brule  fly-fishing.  He  had  struck  a  trout  that 
tried  his  tackle  and  his  skill.  His  rod  curved,  the 
reel  buzzed,  and  the  line  spun  out  taut  down  stream. 
To  prevent  the  fish  from  loosening,  or  from  foul- 
ing the  line  in  the  brush  and  logs,  was  the  critical 
and  turning  point.  Gay  must  have  had,  or  seen  a 
similar  match  with  a  trout,  as  in  his  "  Rural 
Sports,"  he  foreshadows  High  in  what  was  nearly 
literally  a  brush  with  the  Brule  trout,  diflfering 
only  in  the  mightiness  of  the  bulk  and  unfolded 
length.     As  thus — 

JSTow  hope  exalts  the  fisher's  beating  heart; 
Now  he  turns  pale  and  fears  his  dubious  art; 
He  views  the  trembling  fish  with  lonigng  eyes, 
While  the  line  stretches  with  tli'  unwieldy  prize; 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  223 

Eacli  motion  humors  with  his  steady  hands, 
And  one  slight  hair  the  mightj'  bulk  commands; 
Till  tired  at  last,  despoiled  of  all  his  strength 
The  game  athwart  the  stream  unfolds  his  length. 

Paul  and  I  anxiously  watched  the  gallant  tour- 
ney, and  were  one  in  admiration  over  the  prize.  It 
was  the  leviathan  or  monarch  trout  of  the  Brule — 
larger  than  any  known  to,  or  heard  of  by  any  of  us 
taken  on  this  river.  We  could  fairly  weight  him 
at  two  pounds.  The  average  of  the  larger  trout 
taken  in  this  river,  or  by  us,  was  probably  not 
over  fourteen  ounces.  High  was  tickled  almost 
into  boyish  exhilaration  at  his  capture.  "What  a 
volley  of  admiring  exclamations  he  uttered !  AVhat 
a  serene  expression  and  halo  of  smiles  he  wore ;  how 
often  he  spoke  of  him,  and  how  many  times  he 
opened  the  basket  to  be  sure  he  was  there,  as  though, 
like  Falstaff  chuckling  over  the  fallen  Percy,  he  so- 
liloquized: "What  if  he  should  rise  again?"  and 
renew  the  fight  anon,  I  cannot  undertake  to  note. 
I  know  he  said  that  he  felt  better  on  the  taking  of 
the  trout  than  if  he  had  taken  a  successful  verdict 
in  a  Chicago  law  suit; 

'•And  all  the  day  an  unaccustomed  spirit 

Lifts  him  above  the  ground  with  cheerful  thoughts." 

This  will  be  the  red-letter  day  in  Pligh's  calendar 
of  Brule  troutino^.  The  rest  of  the  ana-linsr  was 
rather  tame  to  him.  Though  the  fish  we  afterwards 
took   were  considerably   above   the  average,  they 


224  TROTJTING   ON   THE    BEULE. 

seemed  to  liim,  after  the  splendid  trout  coup  de 
grace,  rather  puny.  The  peerless  one  took  the  dash 
out  of  his  ambition.  In  fact,  our  sport,  in  weight 
and  number,  was  so  good  that  he  said  that,  for  once, 
he  had  had  all  the  trouting  he  wanted,  which,  for  an 
irrepressible  enthusiast  of  flj-fishing,  as  he  is,  was 
a  rare  confession.  "We  took  one  huridred  and  fift}-, 
but  returned  most  of  them  to  the  river  again.  The 
day  was  tlie  finest  in  breeze  and  sunshine,  the  eve- 
ning was  cool  and  still,  the  unclouded  moonlight 
tinged  all  the  landscape  in  yellow  glow.  "We  felt 
genial  as  the  warmth  of  the  log-fire  and  bright  as 
its  fl.ames,  and  were  as  placid  and  blissful  as  if 
everything  was,  and  would  remain,  as  serene  as  the 
niffht. 


CHAPTER     XVIII. 

CHICKABIDDY  CAMP — HARPING  ON  THE  TROUT— RIVER  RE- 
CEDING— A  FAWN  AND  A  BUCK — CHANGE  IN  THE  BRULE — 
— CAMP  THEBAULT — THE  TOTAL  FIGURES — LOGMAN's  CAMP 
— THE  MICHIGAMI —  WEAWBINYKET's  CABIN — PAUL  MIL- 
LER'S— BIG  QUINISECK  FALLS. 

Thebault  tlionglit,  perhaps,  a  day  as  propitious 
as  that  which  saw  the  killing  of  the  splendid  trout, 
should  be  crowned  with  more  than  wonted  comfort 
for  the  night,  so  he  hewed  down  a  towering  hem- 
lock standing  near  the  camp,  and  despoiled  it  of  a 
wealth  of  boughs  to  make  us  a  fresh  and  fragrant 
spread  for  sleejiing.  These  made  a  couch  as  much 
to  our  ease,  if  not  cpiite  as  soft,  as  feathers  could 
make. 

The  balmy  sleep,  which  was  there  our  tired  nature's 
sweet  restorer  was  deep  as  the  slumber  of  infancy 
in  the  cradle.  No  one  so  well  knows  what  it  is  to 
sleep  in  peace  and^^wake  in  joy,  as  well  as  to  have 
good  digestion  wait  on  appetite,  and  health  on  both 
15  (225) 


226  TROrTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

— where  appetite  is  ever  under  the  spur  or  on  edge 
— as  the  roanier  in  this  forest  reahn  of  nature,  of 
solitude  and  of  cahn. 

Enamored  of  our  camping  p^ace,  we  had  thought 
to  make  there  a  longer  stay;  hut  the  water-rise 
was  running  out  rapidly,  and  the  trout  would  be 
less  scattered  and  broadcast.  Besides,  it  was 
reported  that  certain  of  the  stores  were  exhausted, 
and  others  were  depleting  rapidly.  The  prospect  of 
famine  had  expedited  the  return  on  the  first  trip. 
As  we  were  now  cloyed  with  excess  of  sport,  and  of 
satiety  "a  little  more  than  a  little  is  much  too 
much,"  we  would  be  making  no  great  sacrifice  in 
emigrating  from  Chickabiddy  Camp. 

High  was  still  harping  on  his  notable  trout.  I 
do  not  know  what  his  war  record  is,  but  I  doubt  if 
an}''  single  event  of  it,  in  the  field,  on  the  march  or  in 
camp,  will  be  a  more  satisfying  recollection  to  him 
than  that  of  his  conquest  of  the  mammoth  trout.  Of 
course,  compared  with  the  three,  four  or  five  pound 
trout,  or  salmon  trout  which  he  himself  had  captured 
from  Rocky  Mountain  streams,  the  Brule  captive 
would  be  dwarfed  and  overshadowed;  but  here, 
where  the  scale  is  reduced,  and  the  fish  make  up  in 
dash,  gameness,  beauty  and  delicacy,  what  they  lack 
in  dimensions  and  weight,  to  have  proved  himself 
the  unrivaled  master  of  the  rod,  wath  an  unmatched 
marvel  of  its  kind  for  a  trophy,  was  indeed  a  feat  and 
good  fortune  worth  emblazoning  on  his  piscatorial 
escutcheon. 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  227 

His  superb  trout,  however,  fried,  and  in  a  crust 
of  brown,  was  served  in  a  breakfast  mess.  And, 
much  of  a  trout  gourmet  as  he  is.  High  had  all  lie 
could  do  to  get  away  with  it.  He  exercised  his  jaws 
with  a  gusto  and  with  a  labor  of  love  in  disposing  of 
the  rich,  delicate,  creamy  flakes,  akin  to  those  of  the 
stomach  attributed  to  a  hungry  Feejee  epicure  for  a 
missionary  tid-bit.  I  could  not  muster  assurance 
enough  to  accept  the  slice  of  it  offered  to  me.  After 
rising  from  the  feast,  he  felt  that  he  had,  indeed,  ban- 
queted, and  that  he  could  now,  like  the  Tartar  khan 
after  his  repast  on  the  sumptuous  horse-flesh  and 
mare's  milk,  flourish  the  trumpet  and  proclaim  tliat 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  could  go  now  to  grnb. 

Almost  as  quickly  as  the  shifting  of  a  gypsy  en- 
campment scene  from  the  stage,  in  a  drama,  our 
canvas  domicile  and  the  paraphernalia  of  the  camp 
were  transposed  from  the  woodland  to  the  canoe. 
Blackened  logs  half  burned,  charred  chunks,  heaps 
of  ashes,  strips  of  birch  bark,  a  mixed  rubbish  of 
trout  heads,  tins  and  skeletons,  ^^otato  skins,  a  drift 
of  hemlock  boughs,  scraps  of  paper,  lithographed 
tobacco  labels,  and  other  minor  refuse,  were  all  the 
vestiges  left  to  testify  of  our  recent  homestead. 

About  eight  o'clock  we  tucked  ourselves  in  the 
canoe,  and,  without  much  ado,  bade  a  somewhat 
regretful  adieu  to  Chickabiddy  Camp.  The  christen- 
ing of  the  spot  with  that  name  was  a  chance  freak 
of  caprice  merely,  but  a  memory  of  the  place  and  of 


228  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

our  four  days'  life  there  will  survive  long  in  the 
future  of  our  several  recollections.  A  half-mile 
below  it,  we  saw  a  handsome  fawn,  with  its  coat  of 
many  spots,  standing  fixed  and  still  at  the  mouth  of 
a  petty  rill.  It  certainly  did  not  have  its  eye-teeth 
cut,  or  it  would  not  have  stood  there,  within  range, 
a  tempting  mark  for  a  deadly  shot.  But  we  were 
abreast  of  it,  or  slightly  below,  when  it  was  discov- 
ered, and  before  Thebault  had  fumWed  his  pocket 
and  found  a  cap  and  got  the  rifle  well  in  hand,  the 
rapid  current  had  swept  us  furtherward,  and  dis- 
tance had  made  it  safe.  The  crack  of  the  gun  sent 
the  startled  fawn  bounding,  but  unharmed,  out  of 
sight. 

There  had  been  so  much  trout  and  so  great 
deficit  of  deer  since  we  left  the  Michigami,  that  such 
a  sight  brought  imaginary  flavors  of  venison  to  our 
lips,  and  we  longed  for  a  real  haunch.  While  our 
birch  was  sliding  easily  along,  and  our  thoughts  were 
yet,  possibly,  brooding  over  the  evanescent  fawn, 
Tliebault,  the  far-seer,  discerned  and  pointed  to  us 
another  statuesque  object,  a  large-horned  buck,  cool- 
ing himself  in  the  stream,  and  there 

"  "With  his  imperial  front, 
Shaggy  and  bold,  and  wreathed  horns  superb, 
The  breathing  creature  stood." 

He  was  too  far  for  Thebault's  rifle,  and  caught 
sight  of  us  too  soon  to  admit  of  any  stealth  or  strat- 
egy being  played  on  him  by  the  rifleman.     Still, 


SUAEMER   WAYFARING.  229 

Tliebanlt  determined  to  give  him  a  scare.  "When 
the  deer  turned  for  the  bushes,  the  gun  was  shot, 
and  tlie  terrorized  buck  phmged  and  tore  the  water 
wide  open  in  his  panic  haste  to  set  his  hoofs  on 
shore. 

On  the  advance,  the  rods  were  plied  in  such 
reaches,  below  such  rapids,  and  behind  such  rock 
or  boulder  masses,  as  promised  immediate  results; 
and  these  brief  snatches  of  angling  were  sufficient 
to  furnish  us  an  ample  dinner  and  supper  supply. 
In  these  passings,  wliicli  were  nearing  us  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  we  scarcely  recognized  the  Brnle 
we  voyaged  formerly.  Then,  a  primitive  densit}"  of 
forest  bordered,  and  unbroken  solitude  brooded  over 
the  shores  to  the  very  mouth.  Since  then,  the  log- 
man's axe  has  been  diligent  in  clearing  spaces  in 
the  wood,  and  the  massive  foliage  that  crowned  the 
close  towering  pines,  in  whose  shadows  and  silence 
the  river  of  trout  ran  undisturbed,  remote  from 
busy  haunts  of  men,  has,  in  several  places,  disap- 
peared, and  vistas  stretch  into  the  depths  and  to 
the  verge  of  the  sky.  These  clearings  leave  a  rugged 
and  stumpy  appearance,  and  strip  the  ground  of 
the  glorious  livery  of  verdure  that  robed  and  liid 
its  barrenness  and  poverty.  These  places  are  now 
occasional,  at  least,  in  the  lower  ten  miles,  and,  to 
us,  changed  the  old  landmarks. 

But  we  struck  one  familiar  point  when  we  put 
in   to    Camp    Thebault    for  dinner.      It   and   its 


230  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BEULE. 

environs  were  nnelianged.  There  were  wildnessand 
forest  enough  of  virginal  nature  to  make  it  a  fitting 
range  for  the  wolf,  whose  howl  we  liad  there  heard 
in  the  distance.  "When  there  before,  we  had  im- 
printed, with  a  Faber,  on  a  large  pine,  fresh  barked 
for  the  purpose,  our  names  and  the  figures  of  the 
catch.  Eecalling  the  "trivial  fond  recoids"  of 
previous  troutings  by  other  parties,  as  we  had  found 
them  inscribed  on  trees,  we  then  supposed  we  were 
leaving  behind  us  a  proud  triumphal  memorial  of 
angling  prowess,  by  scoring,  in  empliatic  promi- 
nence, the  figures  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy-four. 
Looking  now  at  these,  our  own  figures  of  before, 
we  thought  we  could  put  on  airs — certainly  over 
our  former  selves — and  lay  rather  flattering  unction 
to  our  souls,  in  view  of  the  statistical  results  of  this 
trip.  It  counted  a  total  of  thirteen  hundred  and 
eighty-eight.  The  individual  figures,  or  those  of 
each  in  this  total,  ranked  High  considerably  first, 
Pratt  next,  myself  third,  and,  because  of  his  earlier 
return,  Denison  last,  in  the  rivalry  and  credit  of 
exploits  with  the  rod.  A  more  imposing  maximum 
might  easily  have  been  reached  with  only  a  few  more 
daily  hours  spent  in  the  effort.  The  few  scores  of  a 
single  catching  fully  satisfied  the  demands  of  a 
reasonable  sporting  ambition  for  the  time,  while 
other  possible  scores  would  have  been  wanton  and 
wasteful  excess.  A  superfluity  palled  the  keenness 
of  appetite.  The  smaller  fry  we  invariably  returned 
to  the  water. 


SUMMER  WAYFARING.  231 

When  at  dinner,  and  as  lie  prodded  liis  fifth  trout 
with  his  fork,  High  remarked  that  lie  had  always 
heard  and  thought  that  blessings  brighten  as  they 
take  their  flight,  and  in  view  of  the  imminent  van- 
ishment of  the  luscious  trout  meals,  he  intended  to 
make  the  most  of  the  last  to  be  set  before  him.  After 
so  long  breakfasting,  dining,  supping  and  sleeping 
on  trout,  this  certainly  showed  a  healthy  and  still 
appreciatory  appetence  for  trout.  We  all  agreed  in 
applying  Dr.  Butler's  praise  of  the  strawberry  to 
trout:  "  Doubtless  God  might  have  made  a  better 
fish,  but  doubtless  God  never  did."  However,  for 
my  own  part,  I  owned  uj)  to  a  trifle  of  satiety  on 
trout,  and  it  would  be  no  serious  gastronomic  pen- 
ance to  me  to  take  leave  of  that  daintiest  dish  until 
the  next  or  other  season's  excursion. 

At  all  events,  the  fronting  was  practically  ended. 
The  lines  were  wound  up,  the  reels  were  rubbed 
dry  and  wrapped,  the  rods  were  slid  into  their  final 
covers,  and  the  baskets  were  stuifed  with  odds  and 
ends.  The  fishing  campaign,  we  knew,  was  over, 
as  we  swept  into  sight  of  a  lumberman's  cabin  a 
mile  above  the  mouth  of  the  Brule,  in  a  clearing 
cut  out  since  our  former  knowledge  of  the  river. 
It  was  of  the  usual  style  of  the  logman's  quarters 
— a  parallelogram  of  pine  logs,  low  and  long,  and 
roofed  with  shakes,  fitted  with  bunks  for  sleeping, 
and  with  a  center  board  table  for  meals.  It  is  the 
winter   quarters   of  the  hardy  cutters  whose  axes 


232  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BEULE. 

level  the  forest  and  convert  it  into  losfs  to  be  floated 
on  the  spring  freshets  to  the  mills,  whence,  as  lum- 
ber, the  pine  is  dispersed  over  wide  regions. 

To  this  cabin  we  designed  a  visitation,  and  hove 
to  at  the  landing  place.  We  knew  by  a  pale,  bluish 
film  of  smoke  risino-  above  the  roof  that  some  livinor 
soul  was  on  the  premises.  To  our  knock  responded 
a  man  and  a  dog.  It  was  a  response  of  welcome 
from  both.  It  was  easy  to  see  in  the  shiny,  oily 
face  of  the  man,  in  his  costume  glossed  with  grease, 
and  from  his  odor  redolent  of  kitchen  pots  and  dish- 
water, that  he  was  the  cook.  He  was  short,  pursy 
and  bald;  a  French-Canadian,  and  was  not  wanting 
in  the  reputed  afiability  of  his  race.  As  only  three 
or  four  men  were  now  of  his  household,  his  duties 
were  not  pressing,  and  he  had  leisure  to  smoke  his 
well-blackened  brier-wood  pipe  and  lazily  parley 
with  us. 

AYe  were  welcome  to  any  supplies  we  might  re- 
quire, and  as  replenishment  of  the  larder  was  the 
chief  purpose  of  the  visit,  he  supplied  our  necessi- 
ties of  pork,  flour,  potatoes  and  tobacco,  as  well  as 
spared  us  a  Chicago  Sunday  newspaper  a  fortnight 
old.  Bobbie,  his  dog,  was  not  less  sociable,  and 
when  we  patted  him,  wagged  us  his  tail  in  friendly 
welcome,  and  hospitably  rubbed  his  nose  oil  our 
trousers.  Parts  of  the  walls  were  a  rude  art  gal- 
lery, formed  of  wood-cuts,  clippings  from  pictorial 
papers  and  police  gazettes  far  out  of  date,  cheap. 


SUMMER  WAYFAEING.  233 

flaming,  liigli-colored  lithographs,  and  for  a  devo- 
tional suhject,  an  engraving  of  saint  and  saintess  in 
flamboyant  robes.  These,  and  familiar  kitchen  and 
household  appliances,  reminded  us  that  we  were  now 
approaching  the  regions  of  settlement,  the  frontier 
of  civilization. 

It  was  curious  to  recall,  that  since  we  left  Repub- 
lic, until  we  faced  this  sylvan  pot-slinger,  and  with 
the  exception  of  the  redskin  and  the  squaws  on  the 
Paint,  we  had  not  seen  a  human  face  or  habitation, 
or  signs  of  them,  unless  the  trails  we  trod  over  may 
be  considered  such  signs.  The  portages  are  so  sel- 
dom imprinted  by  a  human  foot,  that  nature  almost 
reclaims  them,  by  growths  and  fallen  timber,  back 
to  their  natural  wildness,  so  that  they  are  often  ob- 
scure and  treacherous.  A  travel  by  land  and. 
water,  as  long  and  as  far  as  ours,  and  through  re- 
gions as  wide  apart,  with  nothing  in  sight  but  all- 
pervading  nature,  and  not  even  a  single  token  of 
man's  presence,  serves  to  show  the  ntter  silence, 
vastness  and  wildness  of  the  wilderness,  still  prim- 
itive in  the  forms  impressed  by  the  Creator.  He 
alone  was  present  on  the  noiseless  and  solitary 
pathways  of  our  advance. 

The  summer  livery  of  the  forests  will  have  many 
a  season  to  decay  and  grow  again,  and  again  to 
fade  and  fall,  before  much  of  this  great  wilder- 
ness shall  blossom  as  the  rose.  And  we  were  then 
not  out  of  the  woods.     This  was  about  the  last  of 


234  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

the  Brule,  for  a  mile  below  tlie  logging  cabin  it 
and  the  Paint  commingle  their  waters,  and,  flowing 
together  five  or  six  miles,  the  Michigami  adds  its 
volume,  and  tlie  blended  affluents  become  the  Me- 
nominee. We  portaged  ourselves  over  the  rough 
trail  from  above  and  around  the  Brule  falls,  while 
the  Indians  shot  the  birch-bark,  bounding  like  a 
cork  among  the  dangerous  boulders,  and  through 
the  tossing  breakers  of  the  rapids,  safely  and 
quickly  into  still  w^ater.  We  had  time,  while 
the  traps  were  being  borne  over  the  carrj^  to  read 
the  legends  on  the  trees,  which  are  numerous  in 
fiojures  and  names.  Among  those  surviving  "de- 
cay's  effacing  fingers,"  we  found  our  own  former 
memorials  done  in  Bissell's  boldest  autographic 
scrawl.  To  these  was  now  added  a  supplementary 
inscription  of  tli3  present  party.  Many  of  these 
rude  tablets  of  the  trees  were  curious  and  eccentric 
in  their  chirography  and  spelling,  and  some  of 
them  were  in  a  jingle  of  rhyme.  It  would  seem 
that  usually,  Brule  troutsmen  were  not  wearied  with 
an  affluence  of  sport. 

The  goal  of  the  day's  voyaging  was  Bad  water,  and 
Tom  King's  cabin  there.  We  had  enthusiastically 
invited  ourselves  to  be  his  guests,  and  to  give  him 
a  friendly  surprise.  We  foretold  ourselves  a  cor- 
dial reception.  Our  time-table  was  so  set  that  we 
and  the  night  would  come  together  at  that  point. 
But  the  day  advanced  more  fleetly  than  our  canoe. 


SUMMER   WAYFAKING.  235 

AVe  could  not  go  down  as  fast  as  the  evening  sun 
declined.  The  paddles  strained  a  point  in  the  vray 
of  propulsive  effort,  and  sped  the  craft  gallantly  on, 
and  though  she  sprang  like  a  spurred  courser  ahead, 
it  was  evident,  when  we  saw  the  sunset  reddening 
already  into  rosy  flush,  and  we  were  3'et  some  miles 
off,  the  propelling  machinery  would  be  unequal  to 
the  task.  So  the  Indians  slowed  the  advance,  and,  a 
couple  of  miles  below  the  confluence  of  the  Michi- 
gami  and  the  other  mingled  streams,  where  the  Me- 
nominee debouches  into  several  channels,  forming 
little  islands,  we  turned  ashore  to  encamp.  It  was 
at  a  point  where  these  several  branches  join  the  main 
river,  and  we  could  command  a  view  of  the  silvery 
threads  of  stream. 

On  the  inside  of  the  point  there  was  a  huge  log- 
drift  lodged  and  heaved  up  by  the  freshets.  Trunks 
of  all  sized  trees  were  swept  into  a  shapeless  jam 
and  ja<rged  chaos.  The  top  ledge  of  tins  massive 
interwedged  drift  was  at  least  thirty  feet  above  the 
water-mark,  showing  the  height  and  force  of  the 
floods  that  had  whirled  them  there.  There  was  a 
glut  of  fuel,  and  we  had  no  trouble,  with  the  lurid 
irradiation  of  the  heaping  camp-fire,  in  driving  back 
the  deep  shadows  of  the  night. 

In  the  morning  the  bones  of  the  last  trout  mess 
Avere  left  strewn  around  the  breakfast  log.  Our 
trout-pampered  epicurism  was  now  ended.  "With 
the  exception  of  the  prospective  venison  from  ex- 


236         TROUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

pected  deer  further  down,  our  repasts  in  the  future 
voyaging  would  be  reduced  to  the  staples  of  cook- 
ery. It  is  said  that  kingfishers  encase  theirnests  in 
the  banks  with  a  lining  of  fish-bones.  Our  encamp- 
ments on  the  Brule  must  have  proved  windfalls  of 
trout  skeletonry  to  the  kingfishers  there,  and  if  the 
kingfishers,  so  many  of  which  made  our  acquaint- 
ance, lined  their  nests  with  our  leavings,  our 
wanderings  and  sojournings  must  have  beeu  a 
happy  godsend  to  them.  This  allusion  was  sug- 
gested by  a  kingfisher  which,  near  to  ns,  swooped 
down  and  dipped  his  plumage  for  an  unwary 
sucker  or  chub  as  a  breakfast  meal. 

The  anticipated  sensation  of  the  day  was  our 
intended  and  self-invited  call  on  our  former  Menom- 
inee guide,  Tom  King,  of  Badwater.  His  pagan 
name  is  Weawhiny-Ket.  Our  Menominees  inter- 
preted it  as  Weawliny,  white,  and  Ket^  arm.  So 
his  native  alias  means  White-arm.  Literallyf  on  ac- 
count of  his  dark  coppery  complexion,  the  expres- 
sion is  incongruous  and  a  misnomer.  But  we 
chose  to  take  it  as  meaning  whiteness  in  the  figura- 
tive sense  of  quality;  as  when  it  is  said  of  a  man  that 
he  is  white,  and,  in  tliat  liberal  interpretative  spirit 
we  were  contemplating  a  reception  worthy  of  a  man 
and  a  brother.  It  was  our  cue  to  descend  on  him 
as  a  surprise  party,  and  I  intended  taking,  as  is  not 
unusual  in  such  fashionable  and  impromptu  inva- 
sions, refreshments  of  a  cheering  and  festive  kind. 


SUiOIER   WATI'ATIING.  237 

So  as  we  neared  Bad  water  and  swung  into  tlie 
reach  where  his  cabin  was  visible,  and  knew  from 
the  blue  smoke  which  thinly  curled  up  from  the 
chimney  that  somebody  was  at  home,  the  paddles 
dipped  quicker  strokes  to  speed  us  to  the  place. 

Nobody,  however,  appeared  to  hail  our  coming. 
In  fact,  as  we  drew  up  at  the  landing  place,  the 
open  door  of  the  mansion  was  promptly  shut  with 
an  emphatic  slam.  We  failed  to  observe  any  latch 
string  hanging  out.  Neither  squaw,  papoose  or 
Weawbiny-ket  even  yet  appeared  with  an  eye  to 
mark  our  coming  and  grow  brighter  as  we  came. 
In  truth,  the  surprise  party  was  a  surprised  part}'. 
When  our  surprise  gave  way  to  reflection,  we  con- 
cluded that  sort  of  thing  was  Indian  style,  for  the 
similarly  meaning  formula  of  good  society,  not  at 
home.  However,  we  thought  we  would  not  be  too 
sensitive,  or  put  too  fine  a  point  on  it.  We  were 
in  seri(tas  need  of  pitch  to  smear  the  canoe,  and 
like  Falstaflf",  hiding  our  honor  in  our  necessity,  we 
dispatched  Thebault,  as  bearer  of  dispatches,  on  a 
mission  of  inquiry  to  Madame  King,  the  Weawbiny- 
kettle  of  the  domicile.  He  met  the  matron  at  the 
doorway,  and  held  a  threshold   pow-wow  with  her. 

As  the  result  of  his  embassage,  our  envoy  in- 
formed us  that  Tom  himself  was  absent  up  the 
Michigami,  and  further,  that  Denison  and  Pratt 
had  invaded  her  premises,  at  midnight,  during  a 
rain  storm,  drenched  and  in  a  high  state  of  appe- 


238  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

tite.  Tliis  circumstance  cnliglitened  ns,  and  was 
probably  the  key  to  tlie  mystery  of  the  Weawbiny- 
kettle  cold  shonlder  shown  us.  Those  famished 
and  inundated  gentlemen  had  possibly  laid  waste 
all  the  provisions  in  the  house,  as  well  as  moistly 
monopolized  the  family  beds  and  blankets,  and 
sent  the  mother  squaw  and  the  little  Weawbiny- 
kittens  to  the  kitchen  floor  to  worry  away  a  hapless 
night.  Possibly,  therefore,  a  second  apparition  of 
pale  faces,  just  from  the  woods,  reduced  to  meagre 
rations,  was  a  symbol  to  her  untutored  mind  of 
famine  and  freezino'  both.  Giving  the  accused  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt,  then,  we  wrapped  ourselves  in 
our  imaginary  mantles  of  charity,  and,  in  a  benig- 
nant frame  of  mind,  we  were  prepared  to  go  on  our 
way,  forgiving  and  forgetting  our  metaphorical  and 
vicarious  slap  in  the  face  on  account  of  Denison 
and  Pratt. 

We  ran  across  the  river,  and  advanced;"  in  full 
force,  to  a  cabin  there,  for  a  supj^ly  of  pitch.  We 
found  there  one  intimidated  squaw  and  three  papoo- 
ses, "one  little,  two  little,  three  little  Indian  boys." 
But  as  to  the  pitch,  there  w^as  not  to  be  had  enough 
to  verify  the  proverb  that  whoever  toucheth  pitch 
he  is  defiled.  We  left  Badwater  with  our  colors 
at  half-mast,  so  to  speak.  Two  miles  below  was 
Badwater  Crossing,  a  ferry  established  the  previous 
year  for  the  road  to  the  logging  camp  near  Brule 
falls.     This  road  marks  an  inroad  of  civilization, 


SUMMER   WATFAKING.  239 

and  pioneers  the  advance  of  man  into  tlie  domain 
of  nature. 

At  the  crossing  is  a  pine-log  cabin,  with  preten- 
sions to  be  classed  as  an  inn,  judging  from  tlie  legend 
"Montreal  Bad  water  House,"  imprinted  on  a  splint 
or  shake  over  the  main  door.  It  stands  on  a  high 
smooth  bluf}',  in  a  handsome  situation,  at  tlie  con- 
vex point  of  a  curve  in  the  river.  It  has  several 
apartments.  There  was  a  garden  M'ith  familiar 
potato  vines,  beets  and  cabbage.  Paul  Miller  is  the 
Boniface,  and  because  there  was  a  bright-eyed, 
comely  woman  to  mistress  it,  the  honsehold  was  all 
snug,  neat  and  tidy,  and  had  an  appearance  of  home 
comfort.  To  support  its  tavernons  pretensions,  it 
had  just  had  at  least  one  guest  named  on  its  regis- 
ter. That  was  D.  H.  Lloyd,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
who  had  a  few  days  sojourned  there.  After  satisfy- 
ing a  modest  ambition  with  his  rifle  in  tapping  a 
deer's  blood  and  securing  the  carcass  to  be  sent  to 
the  city,  he  had  undauntedly  set  out  on  the  home 
return,  on  a  stout  pair  of  shanks,  through  the  woods 
to  a  point  on  the  new  railroad.  He  had  stored  here 
a  gem  of  a  birch-bark  canoe,  nearly  tiny,  pretty  and 
light  enough  for  a  fairy  craft — not  much  larger 
than  a  Manitoba  snow-shoe,  and  fitted  only  for  a 
crew  of  one. 

Here  we  found  a  package  of  Chicago  journals, 
and  letters  from  those  who  had  somethino-  sweet 
and  domestic  to  tell  of  home,  forwarded  by  Arthur 


240  TROUTING   ON   THE    BKTJLE. 

T.  Jones,  of  Marinette.  We  aj)preciated  the  civiU 
ity  and  attention  of  this  gentleman.  He  is  him- 
self a  devoted  and  skillful  brother  of  the  angle,  and 
is  one  of  those  of  whom  it  is  said,  in  the  words  of  the 
milkmaid's  mother,  in  the  Comjilete  Angler:  "  All 
anglers  be  such  honest,  civil,  quiet  men."  For  his 
kindness  to  us  we  would  wish  fortune  to  "  sfet  him 
in  a  shower  of  gold,  and  hail  rich  pearls  upon  him," 
Yet  papers  and  letters  only  momentarily  diverted 
our  thoughts,  but  did  not  inspire  longings  for  the 
homes  and  the  world  beyond,  whose  messages  and 
news  they  bore  us.  We  were  still  so  miich  in  spirit 
with  our  surroundings  that  neither  Gibbon's  fight, 
nor  Hall's  discovery  of  a  satellite  of  Mars,  nor  the 
war  of  Osmanli  and  Muscovite,  nor  the  perturba- 
tions of  finance,  nor  any  freshet  of  news  could  then 
sensationalize  us  out  of  the  charm,  composure  and 
dolcefar  niente  of  our  uncompleted  voyage.  We 
would  foretaste  or  borrow  no  sensations.  We  would 
be  soon  enough  returned  to  the  fret  and  friction  of 
city  and  business  life.  We  wanted  our  drift  into 
activity  at  high  pressure  to  be  as  smooth,  quiet  and 
gentle  as  the  flow  of  the  river.  So  our  newspajDers 
hardly  rippled,  for  the  moment,  the  ease  and  calm 
of  the  way,  and  of  our  way  of  life.  The  hours  were 
golden  with  us,  but  we  were  not  fain  to  chase  them 
with  flying  feet.  Passing  each  of  the  cascades  of 
the  Twin  falls,  we  sidled  ashore  at  a  curving  ledge 
of  rock  rising  up  to  an  elevation.     Its   face  was 


SUMMER   AVAYFARIXG.  2J-1 

tliinly  streaked  with  a  shag  or  scanty  nap  of  moss, 
and  np  the  side  was  clotlied  with  a  thicket  of 
stunted  trees,  in  the  shade  of  which  we  were  served 
to  good  purpose,  with  some  of  Paul  Miller's  contri- 
butions to  the  larder.  Just  below  there  were  some 
ugly  rapids  with  wildly  pitching  billows.  It  seemed 
that  one's  time  had  possibly  come  should  he  dare  a 
passage,  which  for  the  canoe  was  clearly  an  extra- 
hazardous risk  which  a  prudent  underwriter  would 
not  insure  against  to  the  value  of  a  pin's  fee.  The 
natives  checked  up  on  the  verge  of  the  turbulence, 
and  took  circumspective  glances,  and  parleyed  a 
little  and  pondered  more.  We  knew  the  venture 
was  a  dubious  one.  The  nervous  organizations  of 
Chicago,  at  least,  were  not  absolutely  placid. 

I  noticed  that  on  close  approach  to  the  "  vex'd 
Bermoothes,"  High  lifted  his  eyes  from  a  highlj' 
seasoned  Milwaukee  divorce  scandal  and  family 
racket  in  a  newspaper,  with  the  details  of  which  he 
had  been  engrossed,  and  devoted  his  particular  so- 
licitude to  the  raging  breakers.  I  shared  his  anx- 
iety, and  thought  "  If  it  were  done,  then  t'were  well 
it  were  done  quickly."  But  the  Indians  at  length 
unleashed  the  craft  and  let  it  loose.  It  bounded 
amono;  heaving:  w^aters  rushinwlv.  The  reckless 
white-caps,  like  enraged  and  frantic  water  sprites, 
with  mad  foam  frothing  their  lips,  tossed  and  leaped 
up  to  us  as  if  they  would  board  the  birch-bark,  and 
lap  us  in  their  watery  embrace.  We  sliot  through 
16 


242  TKorrixG  on  the  brule. 

the  seething  peril  very  rapidly,  however,  with  no 
mishap  more  serious  tlian  a  fewsphishes,  and  scoop- 
ing in  two  or  three  of  the  more  daring  white-caps. 
High  i-esnmeil  the  perusal  of  the  matrimonial  sen- 
sation of  Milwaukee. 

Tlie  few  miles  to  Big  Quiniseck  Falls  were  miles 
of  uniformly  beautiful  scenery.  In  some  reaches 
the  stream  glided  partly  under  the  shade  of  the  for- 
est, and  theuon  curving  around  abend  spread  into 
full  radiance  of  the  sun,  so  that  we  were  flitting  from 
liglit  to  shade;  but  the  river  was  placid  as  a  paint- 
ed, meadow  brook.  The  stillness  of  the  entire  scene 
was  impressive;  not  a  leaf  trembling  to  the  sigh  of 
a  bi-eeze,  not  a  twig  moving,  not  air  enough  astir  to 
breathe  a  film  of  agitation;  only  the  widening  rip- 
ples cut  by  the  canoe  and  the  spirals  from  the  dip 
of  the  paddles,  to  mar  the  mirror-like  gloss  and 
calm  of  the  stream,  and  like  silence  of  the  bord- 
ering woods,  with  scarce  a  note  or  chirp  or  twitter 
of  a  bird;  this  was  a  stillness  which  could  hardly 
be  found  elsewhere.  We  insensibly  assimilated 
ourselves  in  spirit  to  the  profound  and  all-pervad- 
ing calm,  and  sympathetically  lapsed  into  a  seren- 
ity and  Jangour  in  harmony  with  the  overpowering 
hush  and  repose  of  nature.  Dreamily,  passively, 
Toicelessly  and  restfully,  we  kept  in  this  luxurious 
drowse  of  enchantment  till  we  neared  Big  Quini- 
seck Falls.  Only  the  rumble  of  the  falling  waters 
broke  the  charm. 


SUMMKR   WAYFAEIXG.  ^43 

"We  Imcl  scarcely  recovered  from  the  spell  before 
our  birch  bark  touched  the  head  of  the  trail.  The 
portage  is  a  wearisome  trudge  of  two  miles,  a  path- 
way for  single-filing,  and  almost  smothered  in  the 
profusion  of  bushes,  wdiich  often  tripped  the  feet  or 
switched  in  our  faces.  High  and  I  shouldered  the 
blanket  packs  and  led  off,  and  with  much  weariness 
of  flesh  and  in  copious  sweat  of  the  brow,  slowly 
paced  the  seemingly  interminable,  and  occasionally 
almost  impenetrable  route.  Ours,  though,  was  a 
trifling  labor  compared  with  the  task  of  Thebault 
and  Paul.  They  twice  plodded  over  the  route,  and 
even  their  stalwart  frames  weakened  and  tired  under 
the  strain;  and  before  tlie  carry  was  all  finished, 
and  they  had  borne  the  canoe  through  the  sea  of 
foliage,  the  twilight  overspread  us  in  its  gathered 
shades. 

We  tented  on  the  high  point  of  rock  on  the  Mich- 
igan side.  We  liad  a  commanding  view  of  the 
scenery,  striking  yet,  though  sobered  into  dimmer 
outline.  But  in  the  glow  of  the  morning  sun  the 
scenery  was  beautiful  exceedingly.  At  our  feet  the 
foam  from  the  cataract  washed  the  edge  of  the 
shore,  and  laid  in  streaks  like  drifts  of  snow.  The 
currents  in  the  eddies  curved  gracefully,  bearing 
flakes  and  tufts  of  foam.  Just  by,  the  misty  spray 
rose  like  a  phantom  drapery  of  silvery  smoke  over 
the  rushing  waters  of  the  falls.  The  perspective 
down  the  river  was  not  less  charming. 


244  TEOUTING   ON   THE   BETJLE. 

In  fact;  the  wliole  scenery  of  these  falls,  the  wild- 
ness  and  beauty,  the  forest  and  stream,  need  only 
the  genius  of  some  Claude  Lorraine,  Turner  or 
Church  to  trace  and  color  them  in  the  immortal 
glories  of  art,  to  make  them  world-known  and  famed 
and  sought.  Some  day,  tourists  in  search  of  the  pic- 
turesque and  artists  in  pursuit  of  studies,  will  come 
out  of  their  way  to  take  in  Big  Quiniseck  Falls. 
Pictures  of  them  in  the  memory  of  the  one,  and  on 
the  canvass  of  the  other,  would  well  match,  or  sur- 
pass, those  of  many  a  view  more  famed  of  art  and 
story.  These  were  the  impressions  of  the  former 
trip,  and  now  they  were  more  than  renewed. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

A  SPOKTSMAN's  camp  —  AMENITIES  OF  THE  "WOODS  —  LITTLE 
QUINISECK  FALLS — SAIf D  RAPID — STURGEON  FARM — A  HAT 
— STURGEON  FALLS — DR.  ANDREWS — PEEMBINWUN  RAPIDS 
— A  PICKEREL  INCIDENT — INDIAN  ENCAMPMENT— PEEMONY 
FALLS — KITER  SCENES. 

After  starting,  not  many  minutes  of  paddling 
brought  witliin  view,  in  the  distance,  a  scene  of 
quite  another  sort,  which  put  an  end  to  our  impres- 
sions of  the  grand  and  beautiful,  and  set  our  emo- 
tions to  quite  another  key.  A  couple  of  tents  on 
the  bank,  in  white  relief  against  a  deep  emerald 
background,  with  figures  standing  ormoving"about, 
proclaimed  a  camp.  Nearing  more  closely,  we 
knew  by  the  token  of  a  deer-skin  stretched  to  dry, 
and  from  the  red-shirted  Indians,  and  a  group  of 
men  in  hunting  coats  in  the  foreground,  that  we 
had  come  upon  a  sportsman's  encampment.  When 
within  hail,  we  were  saluted  with  a  hearty  "Good 
morning,  gentlemen,  won't  you  land? "  There  was 
(245) 


246         TROUTING  ON  THE  BKULE. 

a  very  generous  alacrity  on  our  part  to  accept  the 
invitation,  and  we  promptly  turned  in  and  laid 
alongside  the  pine-log  pier  and  disembarked. 

There  were  no  preliminary  formalities.  The 
shaken  hands  at  once  endenizened  us,  as  it  were,  in 
the  full  freedom  of  the  camp,  and  the  pledge  or 
ceremony  of  investiture  with  such  freedom  was  a 
a  pipe  apiece  to  smoke,  and  a  cup  of  kindness  from 
the  confidential  demijohn.  These  hospitalities  were 
agreeably  improved  by  us.  We  exchanged  short 
and  rapid  expeditionary  histories.  Our  friends,  as 
we  felt  them  to  be,  were  a  Chicago  party,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  Robert  Clark,  the  well-known 
veteran  woods  sportsman,  with  Ira  Augur,  W.  B. 
"Wilcox,  and  0.  E.  Fargo,  as  his  fellows.  They  had 
five  Chippewa  camp  followers,  luggers  and  polers. 

They  had  journeyed  overland,  and  three  days 
previously  struck  the  river  and  set  up  their  can- 
vass quarters  at  this  point.  The  canoe  flotilla  and 
the  Indians  had  come  on  in  advance  and  to  aAvait 
them.  They  had  already  had  a  prelude  of  gunning 
and  game,  and  had  shot  and  feasted  on  two  deer; 
of  one  of  these  they  spared  us  an  acceptable  haunch 
with  their  compliments,  and  with  gratefulness  from 
us.  They  were  well  equipped  for  all  the  contin- 
gencies; and  were  bound  for  the  Brule.  Our  brief 
meeting  with  them  was  a  delightful  episode  of  so- 
cialities and  kindnesses  on  surprise,  and  an  in- 
stance of  the  rough  and  spontaneous  friendliness 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  247 

of  the  woods.  "We  heartily  wished  them  hon  voyage, 
and  gave  them  our  friendliest  adieus. 

Little  Quiniseck  Falls  are  not  now  as  grand  as 
we  saw  them  in  their  primitive  and  natural  estate. 
Science,  capital  and  labor  have  shorn  them  of  much 
of  their  natural  grandeur.  Some  combined  lumber 
companies  are  waging  a  strife  against  nature  for 
their  improvement.  The  design  is  to  merge  the 
separate  runs  of  water  into  one,  which  is  to  be 
freed,  by  blasting,  from  the  rocks  that  formerly 
split  or  broke  in  pieces  the  logs  pitching  over.  By 
a  temporary  wing-dam,  the  water  is  forced  into  the 
Wisconsin  chute,  w-hile  the  Michigan  branch  is 
having  its  rock  blasted  out  piecemeal,  and  huge 
masses  and  ledsres  of  the  granite  were  being  blown 
from  foundations  as  old  and  firm  as  those  of  the 
everlasting  hills. 

Man  with  capital,  and  giant  powder  as  his  dyna- 
mic agent,  will  soon  prevail,  and  cataracts  that  for 
ages  have  been  untamed  and  unchanged,  will  be 
made  obedient  and  pliant  servitors  to  his  needs. 
AVhen  the  one  channel  is  excavated  or  blasted  out, 
and  the  whole  river  turned  into  it,  there  will  be  lit- 
tle of  the  natural  grandeur  of  the  cascade  left. 
When  we  passed  there,  we  found  an  encampment 
of  many  men  who  were  working  the  drills  and  blasts. 
Powder  and  steel  have  wrought  wonders,  but  these 
wonders  of  skill  and  science  liave  nearly  effaced 
some  of  the  impressive  wonders  of  nature.     In  the 


248  TROCTIXG  OX  THE  BRULE. 

basin  below,  where  I  had  formerly  but  vainly  drop- 
ped in  hook  and  line,  one  of  the  brawny  drill-pick- 
ers had  been  bobbing  for  fish,  and  liad  nipped  nearly 
a  score  of  bass  and  wall-eyed  pike. 

Preparatory  to  attempting  the  Sand  Kapid  we 
lunched,  not  far  below  the  falls,  on  a  rocky  point. 
These  rapids  are  an  ordeal  of  peril  to  the  frail  birch- 
barks.  They  are  three  miles  of  boulders,  breakers, 
shallows,  whirls  and  dashes,  in  one  stretch.  The 
trail  around  is  two  miles,  and  zig-zags  up  a  spur  of 
elevation — quite  the  most  considerable  up-hill  ele- 
vation of  the  route  yet  passed — and  strained  our 
pedestrianism  to  its  utmost.  On  the  plateau  was  a 
sparseness  of  forest  in  places,  there  were  woods 
elsewhere  with  prostrate  trees  over  which  we 
climbed  and  scrambled  throuffh  the  branches,  with 
much  peril  to  the  rods  we  carried.  On  the  other 
and  descending  side  of  the  hill-spur,  the  trail  was 
lost  in  grasses  and  bushes,  and  down  on  the  level, 
the  tangle  of  fallen  timber  and  undergrowth  was 
such  that  we  thought  the  way  hopelessly  barred  and 
lost. 

We  aimlessly  struggled  through  the  obstructive 
maze,  without  a  visible  trace  of  the  path,  and  sink- 
ing at  every  step  in  the  plashes  of  the  marsh.  By 
accident,  we  came  upon  a  dragway  for  logs,  which 
we  followed  up,  and  it  led  us  to'  the  river.  By 
clambering  and  balancing  on  treacherous  trunks  in 
the  log-drifts,  and  jumping  from  stone  to  stone,  in 


SUMMER   "WATrAKIXG.  240 

the  edge  of  the  water,  and  by  scuffling  through 
tliickets,  we  finally  made  our  way,  exhausted,  to  the 
foot  of  the  Rapid. 

This  was  just  in  time  to  see  the  Dickey  heave  in 
sight,  the  paddles  swinging  briskly  from  side  to 
side,  winding  with  the  coiling  channel,  sometimes 
checked  and  eased  up  with  the  poles,  then  shooting 
ahead  in  bounding  swiftness,  and  nearing  us,  round- 
ing and  gracefully  riding  in  the  still  water  at  our 
feet.  We  thankfully  blessed  the  good  fortune  that, 
through  the  dangerous  passing,  she  was 

"  Held  up  so  tenderly, 
Fashioned  so  slenderly," 

as  to  come  in  nnharmed  in  perfect  trim. 

We  ran  near  a  woodchuck  swimming  across.  We 
veered  a  bit  one  side,  so  Thebault  could  jab  his  head 
under  water  with  the  paddle.  The  submersion  only 
enrao;ed  the  creature.  He  emero^ed,  snortino:  the 
water  from  his  nostrils,  and  spunkily  turned  and 
swam  toward  us  in  onr  wake,  as  if  to  fight  the  whole 
party,  spitting  viciously  at  us  like  a  mad  cat.  His 
pluck  was  a^jpreciated.  We  declined  the  skirmish. 
We  preferred  to  give  him  our  benediction.  We  let 
him  go,  with  the  magnanimous  words  of  Uncle 
Toby  to  the  fly,  "  Go,  poor  devil;  the  world  is  large 
enough  for  us  all." 

The  next  port  of  entry  was  the  Xew  York  farm, 
at  the  mouth  of  Sturgeon  river.  As  our  carrying 
capacity  was  less  than  our  consuming  ability,  the 


250  TKOUTING   ON   THE    BKULE. 

robustness  of  our  forest-sharpened  appetite  brought 
us  frequently  to  the  verge  of  depletion,  and  now 
the  viands  were  running  short  again.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  victual  the  expedition ;  we  therefore  landed 
in  a  stress  of  pork  and  tubers.  I  was  deputed  to 
attend  to  this  commercial,  or  rather  commissariat 
business.  Thebault,  bearing  bag  and  basket,  at- 
tended me  as  master  of  transportation;  As  a  pro- 
visional deputation  we  climbed  the  sandy  path  up 
the  steep  bank,  and  presently  interviewed  the  busi- 
ness man  of  the  demesne.  The  figures  on  his  price 
current  were  reasonable,  the  supplies  abundant,  and 
the  traffic  was  completed  before  our  heels  had  time 
to  cool. 

During  the  intei'val  of  the  chaffering,  the  ladies  of 
the  family  or  household  strewed  the  full-blown 
roses  of  their  smiles  on  our  path,  and  to  us  who  had 
been  fellows  so  long  to  the  weeds,  herbage  and  other 
vestures  of  the  wilderness,  such  flowers  were  win- 
somely  sweet  and  pleasant — "  too  pleasant  to  be 
looked  upon  except  on  holidays  " — and  they  made  a 
brief  holiday  to  us.  The  grangeresses  or  patron- 
esses of  husbandry,  it  is  true,  very  curiously  eyed 
my  hat  askance,  as  though  they  were  sure  that  they 
never  saw  anytliing  quite  like  that  head-gear.  Still 
I  hoped  I  had  acquitted  myself  in  the  way  of  civil- 
ity and  devoirs  qnite  as  well  as  High  did  at  the 
Wausauka  tents,  when  the  ladies  giggled  at  him  in 
his  gallant  role  of  Turveydrop. 


SUMMER   WATFAKING.  251 

In  fact  the  hat  was  something  phenomenal.  Its 
original  linen  dome-shape  was  speckled  like  a  guinea- 
hen,  and  from  its  resemblance  to  the  spotted  plum- 
age of  that  barn-yard  fowl,  Denison  nicknamed  the 
chapeau  guinea-hen,  and  I  was  not  critical  enough 
nicely  to  consider  whether  that  name  was  a  mis- 
nomer. The  hat  had  been  presented  to  me  expressly 
for  the  trip,  by  a  near  relative  of  an  ex-president  of 
the  United  States,  and  as  this  was  nearest  to  anything 
in  the  way  of  executive  patronage  I  ever  received,  I 
felt  bound  to  make  the  most  of  the  gift.  It  had  an 
indestructibility  equal  to  that  of  a  nine-lived  cat. 
It  had  been  tramj^led  on,  sat  on,  slept  on,  rained  on, 
shined  on,  dried  in  the  sun,  shrivelled  by  the  iire, 
turned  inside  out,  with  its  brim  looped  up  and  also 
flajiped  down,  and  had  moulded  itself  into  most 
varied  shapes,  and  still  retained  the  essential  utilities 
of  a  hat.     It  entirely  eclipsed  my  felt  hat. 

TVe  had  news  of  Denison  and  Pratt  at  this  place; 
tliey  had  put  in  there  under  stress  of  circumstances, 
and  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  and  condemn 
the  Tom  King  as  unseaworthy,  probably  from  her 
having  been  rough-used  and  battered  in  the  labyr- 
inths of  the  Sand  Rapid.  Fortunately,  they  re- 
lieved themselves  from  tlieir  stranded  condition  by 
being  able  to  get  team'ed,  from  the  farm,  a  few 
miles  to  the  new  railroad  for  a  train. 

From  the  farm  to  Sturgeon  Falls  is  a  mile;  over 
a  high  back-bone  of  a  hill,  the  trail  winds  to  the 


252         TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

foot  of  the  cascade;  short  as  the  portage  was,  it 
was  panting  work  to  climb  it.  Lowering  clouds 
obscured  the  setting  sun,  and  tokened  the  quick 
advance  of  showers  from  the  west;  we  hasted  to 
set  our  house  in  order,  and  had  but  barely  reared 
the  canopy,  when  the  skirmish  line  of  the  charging 
clouds  opened  on  us  and  nearly  beat  out  the  camp- 
fire,  and  forced  us  into  shelter.  Supper  was  served 
in  the  tent  by  the  feeble  glimmering  of  the  fitful 
tallow-dip.  Soon  the  heavier  and  massed  squad- 
rons of  rain -clouds  swept  over,  and  delivered  us  rain 
in  torrents;  there  was  thunder  resonance,  with 
flashings  of  lio^htninff. 

Boo  f  ' 

It  was  a  scene  of  great  moisture;  drops  trickled 
through  some  pores  of  the  tent,  and  our  inner  at- 
mosphere was  grievously  humid;  the  supply  of 
hemlock  boughs,  for  embedding  on,  was  scant;  the 
dreams  of  Ijroken  sleep,  the  beating  of  the  rain  and 
the  dampness  made  it  a  night  of  dismal  phantas- 
magoria to  us.  The  morn  did  not  come  in  russet 
mantle  clad.  Though  the  heaviest  of  the  storm  had 
l^assed,  a  train  or  rear-guard  of  scowling  clouds 
hung  back  portentously  looming.  On  a  memorial 
tree  we  saw  inscribed  the  names  of  Doctor  E.  An- 
drews and  sons,  of  Chicago,  who  had  encamped 
here  the  previous  night.  We  were  prompt,  as  soon 
as  we  had  breakfasted  and  stowed  the  cargo,  to  start 
on  our  way  rejoicing  from  the  forbidding  spot. 

At  the  strip  of  shore  where  Pratt  had,  on  the 


SUMMER    WAYFAEING.  253 

previous  trip  killed  a  fawn,  fresh  deer-tracks  im- 
printed tlie  sand.  He  liad  then  declared  per- 
petual truce  and  amity  with  the  deer  kind.  But 
Thebault  was  not  so  compunctious  or  tender-heart-^ 
ed,  and  was  on  the  lookout  for  the  hoofed  and  an- 
tlered  "native  burghers  of  the  desert  citj."  It  was 
life  and  liberty  to  those  recent  deer  that  they  had 
seasonably  made  tracks  out  of  the  way,  which 
was  all  we  saw  of  them.  Clark's  venison  had  now 
gone  the  way  of  all  flesh  of  the  haunch,  that  is  to 
pot,  and  we  depended  for  fresh  meat  on  the  rifle. 
We  were,  therefore,  advancing  in  a  state  of  armed 
reconnoisance.       , 

At  Peembinwun  rapids  the  Menominee  was 
almost  shrunken  literally  to  bed-rock.  The  whole 
loading  was  put  ashore  and  carried  around.  The 
canoe  was  safely,  though  at  hazard  of  wrecking, 
guided  through.  There  was  a  fine  vesture  of  grass 
in  the  shade,  and  we  had  lunch  there,  and  reclining 
on  the  grass,  we  leisurely  sipped  the  Oolong  tea 
procured  at  Sturgeon  farm,  and  much  at  ease  en- 
joyed the  prandial  snack.  Three  Chippewas,  on 
the  way  above  for  deer,  stopped  for  portaging  their 
canoes  and  for  rest,  at  this  point.  They  and  our 
natives  held  a  brief  international  or  intertribal 
council  on  the  ground,  in  one  of  their  maternal 
tongues.  It  was  not  encouraging  to  our  aspirations 
or  rather  stomach  for  venison,  expected  below,  that 
these  redskins  had  left  from  below,  and  were  out 


251  TKOTJTING   ON   THE   BRULE. 

.to  peer  the  country  over  our  just  traversed  course, 
in  deer-slajing  cohoot. 

There  was  a  pickerel  entertainment  here,  also. 
Just  off  our  canoe,  at  the  beach.  High  espied  a  large 
.pickerel,  about  two  feet  in  length,  sunning  himself 
or  sleeping  in  shoal  water.  On  account  of  my 
tourney  with  one  of  the  same  species  at  Michigami 
falls,  High  pointed  him  to  me  as  the  pickerel  champ- 
ion. But  I  declined  the  exertion  of  unsheathing, 
jointing  up  and  rigging  my  rod  for  even  so  promis- 
ing a  diversion.  Thereupon,  Thebault  attempted 
to  knock  out  the  fish's  brains  with  the  pushing  pole, 
but  the  pickerel  dodged,  and  bore  oft' his  brains  with 
liim  to  the  deeper  water.  But  presently,  the  offi- 
cious fish  swam  again  into  sight.  This  hardihood 
now  roused  High's  piscatory  blood;  but  how  to 
harmonize  it  and  his  piscatory  taste,  to  which  bait- 
ing seemed  only  foul  play  and  wholly  repugnant, 
was  a  perplexity — for  a  moment.  He  knew  a  pick- 
erel would  turn  up  its  nose  at  a  fly  gewgaw.  So,  to 
compromise  himself  only  partially,  he  tacked  on 
what  we  supposed  was  a  slit  of  bacon  with  a  new 
glaring  red-fly. 

High  clambered  to  a  rock  in  reach  of  the  fish, 
and  gently  swung  in  the  gorgeous  mongrel  scare- 
crow right  by  the  fish's  snout.  As  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, the  monstrous  thing-of-a-jig  terrified  the 
pickerel  into  fits,  and  it  shot  off  like  a  flash  into  the 
deep.     Such  an  egregious ^asco  would  set  any  table 


.     SUMMER   WATFARIXG.  255 

in  a  roar,  and  the  jest  was  too  mneli  for  even  Indian 
gravity.  High  manfully  bore  onr  broad  grins,  but 
when  he  was  chaffed  for  baiting  with  ignominious 
pork,  he  vehemently  resented  the  derogatory  impu- 
tation, and  protested  it  was  a  tittle  of  deer  grafted 
on  the  fly.  We  had  not  been  aware  that  there  was 
a  venison  fibre  on  hand,  and  though,  in  his  word,  I 
generally  considered  him,  like  Horatio,  "  as  just  a 
man  as  e'er  my  conversation  cop'd  withal,"  I  was 
after  all  sceptical  about  the  deer. 

Not  far  below  was  an  encampment  of  Indians, 
squaws,  papooses  and  dogs,  who  had  come  up  from 
White  Tiapids  for  a  sojourn  in  bark  tepees,  on  a  gen- 
eral shooting  and  curing  of  deer  for  winter.  One 
of  the  men  had  just  punctured  a  btick,  though  not 
so  mortally  but  that  the  shot  animal  was  able  to  get 
away  with  his  antlers  and  the  bullet  into  unknown 
parts  of  Michigan.  As  we  came  along,  the  savage 
was  squatted  in  his  canoe,  musing  like  a  sage  how 
receding  deer,  like  other  blessings,  are  most  prized 
when  they  take  their  flight.  The  pickerel  exploit 
inspired  High  with  a  fellow  feeling  that  made  him 
look  wondrous  kind  and  sympathetic  toward  the 
discomfited  copper-skin. 

On  the  Peemony  Falls  portage,  a  handsome  trail, 
we  failed  to  find  any  of  the  blueberries  which,  on 
the  former  occasion,  so  plentifully  bespangled  the 
ground,  like  dewdrops  in  blue.  Just  below  there 
is  a  cultivated  farm,  with  the  most  pretentious  hab- 


256  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

itation  on  the  river,  having  an  existing  lioiisehold 
and  home,  and  it  is  really  the  most  advanced  outpost 
of  agriculture  on  the  river.  On  the  bank  below  it, 
an  hour's  run,  were  two  clearings  or  meadows,  with 
Indian  cabins.  At  one  of  them,  a  couple  of  youth- 
ful Chippewas,  in  primitive  duds  and  innocence, 
stood  on  the.  bank  and  curiously  gazed  at  ns  passing, 
as  if  we  were  an  unaccustomed  apparition.  Three 
miles  further  down  was  one  of  our  former  camping 
grounds.  The  shadows  of  evening  that  were  gath- 
ering, as  well  as  considerations  of  kettle  and  pan, 
joined  in  directing  and  hastening  us  there  as  an 
encampment  for  the  night. 

The  hand  of  innovation  had  made  notable  chang- 
es; the  forest  that  shadowed  the  river,  had  been  thin- 
ned out,  and  the  landmarks  were  difficult  of  recog- 
nition; though,  on  the  opposite  shore,  the  dense 
wood  still  reared  up,  in  its  native  wildness,  its  dark 
and  solemn  outlines.  These  more  frequent  clear- 
ings and  deadenings  have  destroyed  much  of  the 
beauty  of  the  lower  Menominee  scenery;  the  many 
leafless  trees,  gaunt,  stripped,  blackened  by  fire,  or 
dead  from  girdling,  in  the  garish  sun,  give  a  for- 
lorn and  naked  appearance.  The  denuded  land, 
however,  after  being  stripped  of  its  timber,  con- 
verted into  logs  and  floated  to  the  mills,  is  left  bar- 
ren and  unpeopled,  and  is  not  sown  for  harvests  or 
cultivated  for  homes  and  habitations.  The  charms 
of    voyaging  the  stream   are   rapidly   vanishing; 


SUMMER   ^VAYFARING.  257 

while  the  luxuriance  of  nature  is  being  shorn  away, 
it  is  not  replaced  with  the  tokens  and  evidences  of 
life  and  labor. 

These  occasional  disafforested  strips,  which  have 
made  nnsightlj  gaps  in  the  massiveness  of  the 
woods,  present  an  appearance  of  ntter  waste  or 
desert,  strangely  at  variance  with  the  luxuriant 
density  of  the  wilderness  elsewhere.  Tlie  growths 
of  weeds  and  stunted  shrubbery  that  creep  over  tlie 
ground,  unpleasantly  mark  both  the  despoliation  of 
the  original  forest  wealth  and.  the  sterility  or  pov- 
erty of  the  soil  itself.  It  will  probably  be  very 
many  years  before  the  smoke  of  domestic  altars  in 
cottagers'  abodes  will  ascend  in  these  clearings,  as 
signs  of  farm  or  pastoral  life,  and  of  homes  of  con- 
tented labor  and  enterprise  and  prospective  vvcaltli. 
17 


CHAPTER    XX. 

WHITE  llAPIDS — TROUT  BROOKLET — PIKE  RIVER  AND  "W'ANI- 
TAH — SIXTY  ISLANDS — YELLOW  DOGS — RAVENS — HIGH  AS 
PADDLER — JIM  KAQUOTASH — LONE  PINE  CAMP — EVENING 
SCENE — LOWER  MENOMINEE — DOCTOR  ANDREWS — THE  END 

— ST.  Peter's  blessing. 

It  was  not  a  long  paddle  we  had  of  it  to  White 
Eapids.  High  and  I  took  to  the  pathway  through 
the  meadow-like  stretch  of  ground,  thinly  fringed 
on  the  bank  with  small  trees,  casting  a  meagre  rag- 
ged shade,  and  left  the  Indians  to  work  the  canoe 
through  the  shoals  and  rapids.  The  trouting  fever 
showed  symptoms  on  High  as  soon  as  we  touched 
the  trail.  He  recalled  his  reminiscences  of  the 
rather  difficult,  but  not  unpleasant  sport  before, 
at  the  brooklet.  It  was  easy  to  presage  his  wishes 
from  the  tone  of  his  recollections,  and  from  his  so- 
licitude about  the  signs  of  the  weather,  of  which  he 
took  constant  observations  from  the  clouds. 

Before  the  fever  had  risen  to  its  climacteric,  the 
(258) 


SUMMEK  WAYFARING.  So9 

sky  was  more  ominous  of  a  shower,  and,  even  his 
enthusiasm  for  a  trial  of  the  fly,  amon^  chimps  of 
bushes  and  thickets  of  alder,  oozed  away  on  account 
of  the  probable  moisture  of  the  attempt.  He  ad- 
mitted it  would  hardly  pay  to  wet  his  jacket  for  the 
trout,  and  thought  it  preferable  to  take  the  chances 
of  rain  with  the  tent  at  hand  to  be  landed  for  ready 
shelter.  Though,  as  this  was  the  last  known  possi- 
bility of  trout  on  the  nearly  ended  trip,  he  wavered 
and  faltered  in  will  and  purpose  till  we  depossible- 
ized  the  venture  by  getting  him  actually  embarked 
and  under  way. 

At  the  mouth  of  Pike  river, the  pine-wood  bower 
or  boudoir  of  the  dusky  Indian  maid  and  kennel 
of  the  Cerberus  dog  were  shut  up  and  deserted. 
Paul  was  a  trifle  emotional  on  this  occasion,  possi- 
bly expecting  to  have  had  a  brief  scene  of  eyes  look- 
ing love  to  eyes  that  would  speak  again,  or  something 
to  that  effect.  The  young  buck  heaved  a  bit  of  a 
sigh  as  we  went  skipping  by.  We  passed  the  Sixty 
Islands.  These  are  an  archipelago  of  islands  and 
islets,  a  cluster  of  glorious  emerald,  of  various  forms 
and  sizes,  with  splendid  profusely  branched  and 
leaved  elms,  a  very  wealth,  of  verdure,  making  a 
view  of  the  most  lovely  and  picturesque  scenery. 

We  were  content  to  float,  at  times,  on  the  cur- 
rent rather  than  outspeed  it  with  strokes  of  the 
paddles,  that  we  might  lingeringly  enjoy  the  sur- 
passing beauty.     Prom  a  cabin  we  were  passing,  a 


2G0  TKOUTIXa  ON  THE  BEULE. 

jellow  dog  ran  out  and  followed  on  the  bank,  bark- 
ing at  us  savagely,  making  the  welkin  ring  with  his 
howls,  until  he  yelped  all  the  wind  out  of  him. 
High  was  facetious  enough  to  hint  that  guinea- 
hqn  hat  as  the  cause  of  the  yellow  whelp's  convul- 
sions. Down  further,  Thebault  fired  the  rifle  at  a 
plover  that  was  strutting  about  wetting  its  toes  in 
the  edge  of  the  river.  The  charge  had  been  loaded, 
far  above,  for  expected  deer.  They  were  frequent 
on  our  first  descent  of  this  river.  On  this  voyage, 
excepting  the  two  near  Cauip  Chickabiddy,  we  had 
not  seen  one  of  tlie  "dappled  fools."  The  railroad 
to  the  Breen  mines,  the  clearings  and  the  many 
stranded  logs  along  shore,  were  said  by  an  Indian 
hunter,  to  frighten  them  from  the  river. 

B}^  the  side  of  a  couple  of  canoes  drawn  up  in 
the  grass,  was  another  Yellow  Dog,  with  a  com- 
rade. This  was  quite  a  different  sort  of  a  yellow 
doo'  from  the  ill-begotten  cur  that  had  shown  his 
teeth  to  us — no  other  than  a  well-known  old  Indian 
of  that  name,  of  Twin  Island  habitancy.  Thebault 
and  Paul  well  knew  him.  Thej^  held  up,  and  he 
and  his  dilapidated  chum  and  themselves  fired  vol- 
leys of  Indian  gab  promiscuously  and  interchange- 
ably. He  must  have  been  a  witt}'  dog,  for  his  sal- 
lies generally  brought  down  our  men  in  rather 
boisterous  merriment.  Doctor  Andrews'  party  was 
reported  by  them  to  have  passed  down  shortly 
before.     I  am  not  enough  versed  in  the  theory  of 


SUMMER    WAYFARING.  261 

omens  to  judge  wlietlier  the  croakiiigs  of  a  funereal 
party  of  ravens,  perched  on  a  dead  tree  near  the 
river,  which  we  heard,  were  sepulchral  forebodings 
or  monitions  of  mortality  instinctively  excited  by 
the  appearance  of  a  doctor  to  their  prophetic  eyes. 

By  noon  we  were  at  Wausauka  bend.  Instead 
of  doubling  the  long  narrow  promontory  on  the  wa- 
ter, w^e  trod  the  portage  across  its  base.  V^e  in- 
tended dining  there.  When  we  camped  there 
before,  we  were  swarmed  on  by  the  most  multitu- 
dinous and  ravenous  mosquitoes  of  the  whole 
journey.  And  now,  no  sooner  were  our  packs  laid 
down,  than  flying  legions  of  the  blood-thirsty  fiends 
encompassed  us  round  about.  Among  the  leaders 
of  the  winged  lancers,  we  recognized  that  demon 
vampyre  of  the  gory  host  and  of  his  species,  the 
gallinipper.  The  onset  was  too  much  for  us,  and 
the  demoralized  party  fled  the  field  and  rallied  on  a 
further  point. 

We  went  through-  the  Long  Reach,  which  is  a 
beautiful,  straight  and  wide  perspective  of  river 
scenery.  Instead  of  having  his  esthetic  sensibilities 
mo-ved,  as  an  impressionable  voyager  would,  by 
such  blended  charms  of  wood  and  stream.  High  was 
seized  with  a  sudden  dementia  or  idiosyncrasy  of 
propulsion.  He  grasped  Thebault's  paddle,  and 
with  it  enthusiastically  buffeted  the  water,  wield- 
ing it  rapidly,  like  an  orchestra  leader  swaying  his 
baton  in  allegro  passages  of  the  score.     The  cauoej 


262  TEOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

under  his  vigorous  impulsion,  jerked  ahead  in  gal- 
lant style. 

His  mode  of  paddling,  though,  was  rather  exhaus- 
tive and'uot  likely  to  be  long-winded.  He  bended 
forward  to  plunge  the  paddle  up  to  the  handle,  and 
then  throwing  himself  back,  swung  a  deep,  long 
back  stroke,  making  the  water  swirl,  and  "  in  con- 
volution swift  the  feathered  eddy  float,"  when  he 
lifted  out  the  blade  at  the  end  of  the  sweep.  The 
eccentricity  of  performance  that  most  concerned  me 
was,  however,  the  over-shifting  of  the  paddle  from 
one  to  the  other  side.  It  scattered  the  drip  from  it 
over  me  as  if  from  a  shower-bath,  and  with  copious 
dampening  effects  on  the  cargo,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
danger  of  my  crown  being  banged  by  some  of  its 
wayward  motions.  His  lunacy  of  paddling,  though 
exciting  solicitude,  was  amusing.  It  tickled  The- 
bault  and  Paul  more  than  his  pickerel  experiment 
witii  tlie  red  fly  and  equivocal  venison.  However 
we  could  all  see  that,  with  the  necessary  practice. 
High  has  a  great  future  before  him  as  a  paddler. 
But  a  mile  of  this  health-lift  took  the  wind  out 
of  him. 

Just  above  the  Relay  House  rapids,  there  was  an 
Indian's  castle  of  bark.  The  family  linen  hung  out 
to  dry.  This  was  a  token,  if  not  of  so  much  clean- 
liness as  is  next  to  godliness,  at  least  of  the  red 
inmates  having  reached  the  saj)onaceous  stage  of 
civilization.     A  copper-sheathed  Stentor  on  shore 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  263 

liailed  our  boys  in  a  tone  loud  enougli  for  a 
camp-meeting  preacher.  Tlieir  reply  was  sotto 
voce  comparatively.  But  they  lield  a  parley  in 
tongues  unknown  to  lis.  It  appeared  that  the  sten- 
torian aborigine  was  Jim  Kaquotash,  a  brother  of 
our  auxiliary  Kaquotashes.  He  told  of  a  weaichiny 
man  who  had  passed  down  but  little  in  advance 
of  us.  This  we  knew  to  be  Dr.  Andrews.  "We 
hoped  to  run  him  down  and  to  extend  to  liim  the 
hospitalities  of  our  camp  for  the  night,  or,  if  his 
hospitalities  were  more  liberal  than  ours,  that  is, 
if  his  cornucopia  was  less  impoverished  than  our 
cornucopia,  to  permit  ourselves  to  be  invited  to  go 
snacks  with  him.  But  the  Grand  Rapids  separated 
us.  We  navigated  them  safely,  but  slowly,  and  in 
doing  so  grazed  low  submerged  rocks,  rubbed  on 
stones,  cut  through  breakers  and  sometimes  stuck 
on  flats. 

The  last  camp  of  the  former  trip,  at  Twin  Island, 
the  poor  demesne  of  Yellow  Dog,  was  a  wretched 
one,  with  torrents  of  rain,  and  the  mosquitoes  of 
all  out-of-doors.  But  the  last  camp  of  this  trip 
was  attended  with  all  the  charm  of  our  roufjhino- 
and  tenting  all  the  way  rouiid  about.  It  was  on  a 
high  bank  of  clearing,  a  sward  smooth  and  hand- 
some as  a  lawn  ;  not  far  over  on  the  other  side 
was  a  fine  alluvial  natural  meadow;  overshadowing 
the  tent,  a  splended,  solitary  pine  tree,  doubtless 
spared  from  the  axe  for  its  stateliness.  From  this, 
we  named  our  encampment  Lone  Pine  Camp. 


264  TEOUTINO  ON  THE  BRULE. 

The  air  was  soft,  pure  and  balmj.  When  twi- 
light dee]:)ened  into  dark,  we  stretched  on  the  grass, 
on  the  brink  of  the  river,  and  watched  the  stars 
glimmering  and  quivering  reflexly  in  the  stream, 
and  heard  the  whip-poor-wills  whistling  to  their 
mates,  and  whip-poor-will  notes  echoing  back 
again.  "We  recalled  the  many  incidents  and  unal- 
loyed delights  of  both  our  trips,  and  were  loth 
to  realize  that  this  was  to  be  the  last  of  our  mid- 
summer nights  in  our  companionship  with  nature. 
With  a  touch  of  sentiment  we  yielded,  finally,  to 
the  stillness  and  the  calm,  and,  with  our  pipes  whif- 
fing their  clouding  odors  about,  mused  and  lapsed 
into  the  reveries  of  wayward  fancy.  The  moon  rose 
behind  us.  Its  beams  tipped  the  forest,  over  there, 
fronting  us  in  grim  silence,  like  an  array  of  dark, 
weird,  embattled  phantoms,  and  their  deep  draper- 
ies of  shadow  vanished,  and  all  the  wood  shone  into 
shapes  of  golden  light  and  beauty. 

We  lingered  late  and  long,  so  as  to  enjoy  the 
charm  and  glories  of  the  summer  night.  The 
scene  was  about  to  chauge.  All  the  way  we  had 
been  free  from  shop.  Even  in  sleep  Queen  Mab 
had  not  galloped  her  team  of  atomies  over  our 
lawyer  fingers  to  make  us  straight  dream  of 
fees.  But  now  that  we  were  going  back  to  shop, 
all  shop,  and  shop  at  all  times,  was,  perhaps,  the 
dark  thread  in  the  weaving  of  our  reveries.  We 
made  preparation  for  an  early  start  by  packing  our 


SUMMER   WAYFARING.  265 

luggage  and  paraphernalia  for  the  last  liome  port- 
age, then  to  be  laid  aside,  like  armor  taken  off  and 
hung  up  during  the  calm  of  peace. 

Since  the  great  fire  of  1871,  which,  like  a  destroy- 
ing angel,  smote  the  forests  of  far-extending  regions 
with  a  blast  of  flame,  the  lower  twenty  miles  of  the 
river  are  strij^ped  of  all  woodland  beauty.  Burnt 
and  blackened  stems  of  branchless  trees,  without 
shade  enough  of  foliage,  except  a  rare  small  oasis  of 
spreading  green,  to  cover  a  camj)ing  i)arty,  with  few 
and  far  between  huts  and  cabins,  mark  with  desola- 
tion this  part  of  the  route.  For  this  reason,  and  from 
the  burning  glare  of  the  sun,  our  descent  of  that 
day  was  the  exceptional  coursing  of  the  voyage  un- 
attended with  charm,  comfort  or  pleasure.  "We 
had  Dr.  Andrews  and  party  in  sight  a  long  way 
down  the  river,  in  the  van  of  us.  We  overhauled 
him  on\y  at  the  head  of  the  log-jam,  three  miles  from 
Marinette  and  Menominee,  where  further  passage 
was  apparently  blocked.  He,  with  his  sons,  was 
sitting  on  the  bank,  at  full  stop,  with  his  skifi"  at 
bay,  in  much  perplexity. 

There  is  no  critical  or  delicate  case  of  surgery 
that  could  confuse  or  bewilder  the  eminent  surgeon, 
but  here  was  a  dilemma  too  much  for  all  his  science 
and  skill.  It  was  evidently  to  him  a  case  like  Mer- 
cutio's  wound,  "  past  all  surgery."  But  our  boys 
were  equal  to  the  emergency.  As  loggers  and  log- 
drivers,  a  chaos  and  muddle  of  floated  pines  were 


266  TKOUTING    ON    THE   BKULE. 

no  no.veltj  or  liopeless  dead-lock  to  them.  They 
liopped  and  skipped  from  one  undulatorj  and  roll- 
ing log  to  another,  far  enough  down  to  take  in  the 
situation.  They  started  the  logs  afloat,  and  by 
degrees  got  those  that  barred  our  way  deployed  and 
going  aspread,  so  that  in  the  gaps  opened  we  could 
make  Avay  and  tide  along  with  the  floating  mass. 
The  doctor  and  his  boat  threaded  throuijh  in  our 
wake.  The  skiff  was  built  by  his  own  sons.  In  it 
they  and  he  had  cruised  the  river  as  high  as  Bad- 
water,  merely  for  a  vacation  tour,  in  search  of  the 
picturesque,  to  rough  it,  and  to  realize  the  liygiene 
of  open  air,  of  summer  skies  and  of  forest  life. 

We  advanced  along  with  the  immense  fleet  of 
logs  for  nearly  a  mile,  hemmed  in  sometimes  in 
peril  of  a  crush,  like  arctic  boats  in  moving  floes 
of  ice.  But  at  length  the  floating  ceased.  The 
logs  began  to  compact  immovably  into  a  hopeless 
jam.  We  had  nothing  left  us  to  do  but  to  lift  out 
and  unload  the  canoe,  and  portage  it  and  the  equip- 
age over  the  logs  to  shore,  to  be  teamed  thence 
a  couple  of  miles  to  Marinette.  Hot  and  glaring  as 
was  the  day,  the  tramp  was  not  formidable  to  us, 
then  well  used  to  footing  distances,  and  we  made 
our  way  on  foot.  In  good  season  we  shook  off  the 
dust  of  our  feet  at  the  Dunlap  House,  not  inapt 
for  a  j>lentiful  meal  at  the  flrst  tap  of  the  dinner- 
gong. 

Cedant  anna  togce.     Our  vacation  and  our  tour 


SUMMER    WAYFAKING.  267 

were  ended.  From  the  wood  in  nature's  unbroken 
luxuriance  and  repose,  to  the  stir  and  whirl  of  city 
life;  from  the  canoe,  one  of  the  earliest  contri- 
vances of  primitive  man  for  boating,  to  the  Pull- 
man palace-car,  the  latest  and  perfect  scheme  for 
easing,  soothing  and  luxuriating  travel;  from  the 
trivial  fatigues  of  the  portage  to  the  serious 
burdens  of  daily  toil; — these  were  our  extreme 
transitions  of  a  single  day. 

Three  of  us,  lawyers,  in  the  early  August,  wear- 
ied of  labor,  threw  off  the  professional  harness  and 
sought  freedom  of  action,  rest,  health  and  recre- 
ation— to  have  a  good  time.  We  knew  where  and 
how  to  find  it,  and  we  had  found  it  in  exuberance 
of  satisfaction.  We  had  left  our  library  books  to 
find  more  animatinoj  and  living  books  in  the  run- 
ning  brooks,  sermons  in  the  stones  and  good  in 
everything.  Our  outfit  was  simple,  but  enough, 
and  not  overburdensome  in  the  canoe  or  on  the 
portage.  Our  train  of  Indian  attendants  was  more 
and  better  than  we  expected;  all  of  them  were 
ready  and  eager  to  do  their  utmost  in  their  parts 
and  sphere,  and,  as  we  believe,  mutual  attachments 
have  entwined  them  and  us  as  friends  for  all  time. 
Our  adieus  with  them  were  warm  with  the  sincer- 
ity of  friendliness. 

And  so,  looking  back  over  our  excursion,  in  which 
could  be  recalled  no  single  jar  or  discordance  in  the 
common  fellowship  of  the  party — without  a  growl 


268  TKOUTING  ON  THE  BRULE. 

or  murmnr  of  complaint,  or  even  a  physical  pain 
or  misliup  to  be  remembered,  the  only  regret  being 
that  of  a  too  early  severance  or  sej^aration  while  on 
the  route — we  felt  and  were  at  peace  of  mind  and 
rest  of  body,  content  with  each  other  and  ourselves. 
And  aH  were  read}^  to  join  in  the  spirit  of  the  closing 
words  of  the  fisher  and  hunter  in  ■  good  old  Izaak 
"Walton's  book,  "Let  the  blessing  of  St.  Peter's 
master  be  mine  and  upon  all  that  are  lovers  of 
virtue,  and  dare  trust  in  his  providence  and  be 
quiet  and  go  a-angling." 


SUMMEK    "WAYIARIXG. 


269 


No.    1. 

DISTANCE  TABLE.— BRULE  RIVER. 


r  rom 
To 


Lake  Brule 

Hagcrman,  or  BigrLake  Portage.  ■ 

:First  Lake  (Portage) 

'H'^german  Lake  (Portage  J  mile). 
Pickerel  Lake  (Portage  j  mile).. . 

'.Big  Hill,  Portage 

Foot  Big  Hill  Portage  (Portage  2>i 

I         miles). 

Mouth  Maple  Creek 

I  Lake  Chicagon  Portage 

Cedar  Camp, 

Little  Brule  Falls 

'Boot  Lakes  Camp,  (ChickabitUly). 

.1st  Boot  Lake  (Portage) 

|2d  Lake  (Portage,  i  mile) 

'3d  Lake  (Portage,  i  mile) 

^Pine  River  (Portage,  2f  miles). . . 

Brule  Dam,  (18,8) 

Armstrong's  Canlp 

La  Montaigne's  Upper  Camp 

Cauldwell's      (La      Montaigne's 

Farm,  f  miles) 

R.  Stephenson's,  Brule  Faim 

Brule  Falls  (Mouth  Paint  River).. 

Mouth  Otter  Creek 

Mouth  Brule  River 


li 

i 

4 

17 
3i 
2i 
2i 
4i 


1 

If 


1 
1 

2 

3 
5 
li 

n 


TOTAL 


From 
Republic 


II 

4 


12i 
33 

m 

38 
421 


n 

Si 


43i 
44i 
46i 

49* 

54| 

56 

bSi 

60 


yoi 

93 

971 


98i 

99i 

lOli 

104* 

109i 

111 

113f 

115 


No.  2. 

DISTANCE   TABLE.— WAGON   ROAD,    QUINISECK  TO 
BRULE  RIVER.  (1878) 


From 
To 


Quiniseck. ........ 

First  Creek 

Second  Creek 

Outlet  Lake  Antoine 

Bass  Lake 

Twin  Falls  Bridge. 


270 


TROUTING   ON   THE    BRULE. 


Wagon  Road,  Quiniseck  to  Brule  River — Continued. 


To 


Bad  water  Lakes 

Commonwealth  Mine 

Otter  Creek  (Outlet  Fisher's  Lake).. 

Brule  River  (R.  Stephenson's  Brule 

Farm) 


Two  Lakes 

Armstrong's  Camp. 
Brule  Dam 


5f 

H 

3i 


4i 
Hi 

n 


17+ 
19 

221- 


26f 
30 

31ir 


No.   3. 

DISTANCE  TABLE.— WAGON  ROADS  TO  PIKE  RIVEB. 


From 
To 


Section  18  (C.  &  N.  W.-  Ry.) 

Smith's  Farm  (mouth  Little  Cedar). 

Relay  House 

Little  Shakey  River 

Month  Pike  River  (Ford). 

Half-way  Creek 

High  Landings 

Dave's  Falls .'  • . 

Forks  Dam 


U 
4 

5 

7i 
6 
6 

74 
H 


TOTAL 


5* 
lOi 
18 
24 
30 
374 
39 


From 
To 


Carney  (Sec.  34i,  C.  &  N.  W.  Ry.).j 

Little  Cedar  River | 

N.  Ludington  Co.'s  Pemeroe  Farm.' 

.Vluscawana  Creek j 

Little  Muscawana  Creek i 

Road  to  Forks  of  Pike I 


Caton  Lakes 

Fork's  Pike  River,  (Pike  Dam) 
Dave's  Falls 


North  Branch  Bridge 


5 

24 

_^ 
2 

4i 
H 


12 
17 
191 
23 


25 

294 
31 


31 


No.   4. 

DISTANCE  TABLE.— MICHIGAMI  RIVER. 


From 
To 


Michigammi 

Outlet,   Lake    Michigami    (Port- 
age, one  mile  left  bank) 


TOTAL 


From 
Republic 


STJMMER   WAYFARING. 


27i 


MiCHiGAMi  B.i-v~EU— Continued. 


~f^ 


Republic 

Foot  Long'    Rapids    (Portage    2 

miles,  right  bank) 

Flood  wood  Portag'e    (Portage  i 

mile,  left  bank) 

Lake  Ellen 

Fence,  or  Mitchigan  River 

Deer  River 

Upper  Micliigami  Falls  (Portage 

i  mile,  right  bank). 

Lake  Mary,  Portage 

Little  Norway  Portage  (Po  tage 

i  mile,  left  bank) 

Big    Falls,    or    Grand    Portage 

(Portage  li  miles  left  bank) 
Mouth  Michigami  River  (Portage 

at  Falls  i  miles,  right  bank.. 


11 

18 

Hi 

m 

14* 

Si 

8 

U 

41 
49 

58 

23 
31 

40 

4 
9 

62 
71 

44 
53 

5 

76 

58 

6 

82 

64 

8 

90 

72 

No.   5. 

DISTANCE  TABLE.— MICHIGAMI    RIVER    TO    BRULE 
RIVER,  VIA  LAKE  MARY  AND  PAINT  RIVER. 


From 
To 


Michigami  River 

Lake  Mary 

Deer  Fence  Portage 

Paint  River  (Portage) 

Ciystal,  or  Paint  Falls 

Mouth  Sugar,  or  Trout  River. . 

Sugar  River,  Portage . . 

Mud  Lake  (Portage) 

Sugar  River  (Portage,  li  miles 

Lone  Grave,  or  Bass  T^nke 

Foot  Lake  Chicagon 

Head  Lake  Chicagon 

Lake  Minnie  ( Portage) 

Brule  River  (Portage,  |  mile). 


TOTAL 

i 

■  u 

H 

2 

■  3^ 

6i 

lOi 

Hi 

181 

2i 

2H 

i 

21i 

n 

23i 

2i 

26 

31 

294 

3+ 

33i 

i 

33i 

li 

35 

53i 
54J 
56| 

m 

7U 

74i- 

14i 

76i 

79 

82f 

86i 

86i 


272 


TEOUTING    ON    THE    BEULE. 


No.    6. 

DISTANCE  TABLE.— MENOMINEE  RIVER. 


From 
To 


Mouths  Michiofami  &  Brule  Rivers 

Badwater  (Indian  Village) 

Badwater  Crossing  (Feny) 

Upper  Twin  Falls  (Portage,  leit 

bank) 

Lower  Twin  Falls   (Portage,  left 

bank) 

Month  Pine  River 

Head  Quiniseck  Rapids, 

'  Long  Portage,  If  miles,  left 
bank.     2   Short  Portages. 

f  miles,  left  bank 

Upper,    or  Big    Quiniseck    Fall? 

(Portage,  left  bank) 

Lower,   or  Little  Quiniseck  Fallf 

(Portage,  left  bank) 

Head  Sand  Portage, 

(  Long  Portage,    2  miles,   left 
■j      bank.     2  Short  Portages,  i 

(      mile  left  bank 

Foot  Sand  Portage 

New  York  Farm  (Mouth  Sturgeon 

River) 

Sturgron  Falls  (Portage,left  bank' 

Grand  Island 

"No  Speak" 

Pemeneebunwan  Rapids  (Portage. 

right  bank) 

Pemeneebunwun  Creek 

Pemenee   Falls    (Poi-tage,    right 

bank)  

Pemenee  Creek 

N.  L.  Co.'s  Pemenee  Farm 

Muscawana  (Indian  Village).. .  • 

Muscawana  Island 

Muscawana  Rapids 

Chalk  Hill  Rapids 

White  Rapids 

White  Rapids  (Indian  Village). . 

Sixty  Islands 

Mouth  Pike  River 


From 

T  )TAL 

■■;  f  public 

6+ 

121i 

2 

8i 

123i 

2i 

lOf 

125| 

i 

m 

]26i 

4i 

15!^ 

130| 

6i 

22ir 

137i 

li 

24 

139 

41 

28| 

1431 

n 

32i 

174i 

If 

32i 

147i 

4i 

3Pi 

15U 

1 

37+ 

1524 

9 

46i 

161i 

2 

48i 

W6i 

f 

49i 

164i 

24 

52 

167 

2f 

54| 

169| 

i 

55i 

170:  ■ 

1 

56i 

171i 

21 

69 

174 

i 

591 

1744 

n 

m 

176ir 

11 

63 

178 

4+ 

671 

1824 

f 

68ir 

183i 

i 

est 

1831 

3 

711 

186i 

SUMMER    WAYIARING. 


273 


Mexominee  River — Continued. 


To 


K.  C.  Co.'s  Pike  Farm 

Mouth  Shakey  River  

Head  Wausauka  Portage  (Portage 

i  mile,  left  bank) 

Foot  Wausauka  Portage  (Poitage 

i  mile,  left  bank ) 

Pock  Du  Nock 

Head  Long  Reach 

Relay  House 

Head  Grand  Rapids 

Foot  Grand  Rapids,  (Mouth  Little 

Cedar  River  I 

Twin  Islands 

Twin  Creek 

Little  Kiver 

Upper  Dam 

Mouth  Menominee  River. . . 


n 

T.ii 

1 

m 

4i 

ISi 

?A 

82 

4i 

864 

51 

m 

4 

mi 

i 

96i 

31 

lOOi 

6i 

106J 

6t 

li:-i 

6J 

120 

U 

12H 

'Si 

125 

im 

189i- 

193i 

197 
20H 
207ir 
211  i 
21  li 

215i 

22U 

228i 

235 

236* 

240 


CJ-'g/C^Ott 


/ 


d^ 


.« 


.  ■■■m\ 


i^:5*^i? 


!               ,  / 

-»■  '■-;:!! 

• 

^1 

>  "^  ,x      vv   '"•^ 


*^-  v^^ 


.^:d^ 


